Portland Youth Philharmonic Presents ‘The Far West’

Audiences in Redmond and Corvallis will get the chance to hear Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) when the orchestra visits on a tour to kick off their historic 95th season. PYP will present a free concert at Redmond’s Ridgeview High School at 7:00 PM on Saturday, October 27, 2018. The next day, on Sunday, October 28th, the orchestra will perform in Oregon State University's Austin Auditorium at The LaSells Stewart Center at 3:00 PM. Tickets to the Corvallis performance are $5 for all ages.

Portland’s locally-grown and internationally renowned youth orchestra will present distinguished composer William Grant Still’s The Far West from his larger suite The American Scene. Written in 1957, by “the Dean of African-American composers,” The Far West evokes the age-old cultures and natural beauty of America’s West Coast. Still, who was of Spanish, Native American, Irish, Scottish, and African-American ancestry, envisioned a proudly multicultural America, as harmonious in race and ethnic relations as his music.

“William Grant Still was an outstanding American composer who overcame tremendous obstacles to produce bodies of work in many genres,” says PYP Musical Director David Hattner. “Although Still's Far West is a little further south than Oregon, it juxtaposes nicely with the music of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, who came to this country and encouraged American composers to find local inspiration for their art. William Grant Still is one of the finest examples of this philosophy.”

The Redmond performance is free and all are welcome to attend. Tickets to the Corvallis performance are just $5 and may be purchased online at www.portlandyouthphil.org/corvallis or at the door.