MARIPOSA – The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming Festive Holiday Concert features no fewer than four musical sleigh rides. And considering both the weather forecasts and season to date, a sleigh may be a suitable way to negotiate the Yosemite region, suggests MSO Founder/Conductor Les Marsden.
The MSO’s popular annual concert event will be held in Mariposa County High School’s Fiester Auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m.
The evening will open with the overture to Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro,” one of the best-loved comedic pieces in the classical repertoire, and well-known from its many uses in pop culture – most prominently in the 1983 film “Trading Places.”
Following that piece will be the concert suite from the 1934 Soviet-era film “Lt. Kijé” by 20th-century master Serge Prokofiev. Featured prominently in Woody Allen’s 1975 classic comedy “Love and Death,” the suite includes the famed “Troika” movement – a sleigh ride through the Russian countryside immediately recognizable to even the casual listener.
Two more sleigh rides follow: those of British composer Frederick Delius and the famed classic by American light composer Leroy Anderson.
Also on the program will be the “Evening Prayer and Dream Pantomime” from German composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s beloved 1893 opera “Hänsel und Gretel” – a staple of the holiday season. The concert will also include the Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni’s opera “Cavalleria Rusticana” – tellingly used in the film “Raging Bull,” the late local composer Dr. Phillip Smith’s “Dr. Smith’s Christmas Fantasy,” Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Greensleeves Fantasy,” and the concluding piece, Les Marsden’s “Sierra Christmas Party,” including that fourth and final musical sleigh ride.
Tickets for this Festive Holiday Concert are only $6 for adults and $4 for students, and are now available for secure online purchase by visiting the Mariposa County Arts Council at http://tinyurl.com/ArtsShop. Tickets are also available in person at the Arts Council’s office/Treetop Gallery on the top floor of the Chocolate Soup store at the southern entrance to the town of Mariposa. Call (209) 966-3155 for hours and information.
Tickets are also available at the Mariposa Visitors Center at the north end of town, directly opposite Miners Roadhouse; call (209) 966-7081 for hours. More concert information is available at http://tinyurl.com/MariposaSO. Email MSO@sti.net and ask to be added to the private, exclusive “Friends of the MSO” e-list.
