Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra : All posts

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Enjoy patriotic tunes during 'Ypsi Pops' at Riverside Park

The Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra and Ypsilanti High School Marching Band will present Ypsi Pops at Riverside Park on Saturday.

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Encore presentation of 'Ypsilanti Orchestral Jazz Suite' set for Sunday in Pease Auditorium

Paul Keller

“It’s like a painting in music, a kind of a tone poem,” said local jazz bassist and bandleader Paul Keller, who composed the work. “It’s a jazz quintet, led by an orchestra, inspired by different events and the people from Ypsilanti’s history.”

The Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Adam Riccinto, will team up with The Paul Keller Jazz Ensemble Sunday at Eastern Michigan University for an encore performance of the “Ypsilanti Orchestral Jazz Suite,” their 2010 musical salute to the city’s heritage.

Besides Keller on string bass, the jazz ensemble includes trumpeter Rayse Biggs, saxophonist Ben Jansson, pianist Tad Weed and drummer Sean Dobbins.

The concert will include historical photos and film of Ypsilanti's past, projected onto a large video screen behind the orchestra.

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Ypsilanti Symphony season finale to feature Sphinx laureate playing rare Stradivarius

Gareth Johnson will perform at the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra's season finale.

It’s the word Adam Riccinto, conductor and music director of the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra, uses to describe the convergence of events that led to the YSO’s very special grand finale concert Sunday afternoon at Pease Auditorium on the Eastern Michigan University campus.

The concert is a partnership with both the Sphinx Organization, which fosters the talents of young African-American and Latino musicians and promotes diversity in the classical music field; and The Henry Ford, which just happened to have a Stradivarius violin—the 1709 “Siberian”—in its collection.

“The Henry Ford came to us, actually,” said Riccinto in a recent phone conversation. “They were looking to expand their reach in Washtenaw Country, and they thought our mission at the YSO, making music accessible to community audiences, was a good fit.”

And they had this instrument, the “Siberian,” that was in good shape but needed to be played.

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Paul Keller's ambitious jazz suite saluting Ypsilanti's history getting symphony premiere

Paul Keller

Paul Keller is proud of his hometown and will prove it with music.

Bass player, bandleader and composer Keller has written an ambitious work, “The Ypsilanti Orchestral Jazz Suite,” which will be played by the 65-piece Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra, directed by Adam Riccinto, in a concert at Washtenaw Community College. Besides Keller, Ypsilanti jazz musicians Doug Horn (saxophone), Rayse Biggs (trumpet), Sean Dobbins (drums) and Tad Weed (piano) will be featured.

This composition will be part of an Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra program that salutes Ypsilanti heritage and will include other special orchestral and vocal music that has historical significance relating to Ypsilanti.

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with audio: Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra focusing on Elgar on Sunday

April may be a cruel month — witness my giant magnolia tree, pink blossoms tinged frostbitten brown — but it’s a great month for music, as local organizations and ensembles wrap up their subscription seasons in a big bow.

For the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra, the final package can be summed up in 1 proper noun: Elgar.

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Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra's "Ages and Stages" appeals to the young at heart

“Ages and Stages” is the name of the next Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra concert, February 21, and for Music Director Adam Riccinto, it’s all about “different stages of childhood and young adulthood, whether it’s ‘Brahms’ Lullaby’ or a young lady who is showing what she can do in the ‘Carmen Fantasy.’”

The concert is the YSO’s annual Youth Concerto concert, and the young lady in question is 15-year-old Carmen Flesher, who won her spot with the orchestra through Riccinto’s long observance of her as a musician.

Ypsilanti Symphony performing holiday pops on Sunday

“A whole lot of fun.” That’s how Adam C. Riccinto, music director of the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra, describes the orchestra’s Sunday afternoon holiday concert at Towsley Auditorium.

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Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra season starts with Sunday concert at WCC

Mozart and Beethoven are on the bill as the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra, directed by Adam C. Riccinto, launches its season Sunday, Oct. 4 at Towsley Auditorium on the Washtenaw Community College campus.

“Dynamic Duos” is the concert’s title, and it plays out, quite literally, in the intertwining parts for solo violin and viola in Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major for Violin and Viola.” The orchestra, which has become an accomplished community ensemble with main stage concerts and youth and outreach activities, has a fine pair of soloists for the Mozart: violinist Daniel Foster, a faculty member at Eastern Michigan University who is a frequent soloist and chamber music player around the United States; and violist John Madison, principal violist of the Michigan Opera Theater Orchestra and a co-founder of the Ann Arbor-based Cassini Ensemble, among many other credits.