Music

The Spokane Jazz Orchestra joins the Spokane Symphony in a tribute to the USA and its armed forces with an evening of classic and contemporary American songs.

Step into the golden age of jazz and swing, where America’s first ladies of song — including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Lena Horne — ruled the stage. Carmen Bradford, a superstar jazz singer and charismatic storyteller, brings to life the legendary women who changed the face of music.

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Spokane Expo ’74 with music played that season by the Spokane Symphony.

This program explores political leadership and debate, starting with music by Ethel Smyth, a prominent women’s rights campaigner. Glenn Dicterow, long-time concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic and mentor of our concertmaster Mateusz Wolski, performed Serenade many times with Bernstein himself conducting.

Sandeep Das, a virtuoso on the Indian tabla drums, leads a prolific international musical career characterized by tradition, innovation, and a passion for spreading love and joy. He joins leading conductor James Ross for an evening of propulsive rhythm.

Fifty years ago, humanity broadcasted a powerful message from our solar system into the unknown containing information about humanity and earth. We celebrate this “Arecibo Message” with music that has been performed in or sent into space alongside the spectacular Voyager Concerto by Academy Award-winning composer, Dario Marianelli.

We welcome rising star Holly Hyun Choe to the podium as she leads the orchestra through works of drama and warmth with her unstoppable energy and charisma.

Joined by the Spokane Symphony Chorale, we steer for deep waters with Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. Hovhaness weaves whale song recordings with the orchestra to capture the epic majesty of our planet’s largest creatures, performed with beautiful video footage in the background to make what you head come alive.

Beloved by Spokane, conductor Morihiko Nakahara returns with a program of romantic passions. Amy Beach is the composer of the first published symphony by an American woman, weaving old-world folk songs into symphonic form. Mozart’s beautiful 1785 piano concerto is often used in films—you’ve heard it in Superman Returns, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Elvira Madigan—giving the music its unofficial nickname.

A vibrant array of works handpicked by the Spokane Symphony musicians, including a contemporary piece based on artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the champion of street art and neo-expressionism. We expand our symphonic color with the sound of the organ for Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Organ Symphony.”

What does “home” mean for us? The music performed this weekend explores what it means to feel a sense of belonging — or not — from the homesickness of the immigrant Dvorák to a Salish Language hymn via Copland’s boisterous Americana.