The Sooke Philharmonic is about to pluck its strings for the start of a new concert season.
Under the helm is the familiar maestro Norman Nelson, who returns to conduct the first Sooke Philharmonic concerts at the end of October.
This year, the philharmonic will present Kevin Chen, who will be performing Khachaturian Violin Concerto in D minor. The other two works on this program, the Russlan and Ludmilla Overture by Glinka and Tchaikovsky’s passionate Symphony No.4, make it a concert of Russian masterpieces.
The concert will be held at the Sooke Community Hall on Oct. 30 at 2:30 p.m.
In June, another young concerto competition winner, Ya-Ping Huang, who wowed the audience last April with her performance of the Mendelssohn piano concerto, will be playing the second piano concerto by Rachmaninoff. The June concerts also feature the well-known Adagio from the Khachaturian Spartacus Suite No. 2 and a composition by choral director, Nicholas Fairbank, entitled Sea Cantata.
The December concerts by the Sooke Philharmonic Chamber Players and Chorus will present two works by J.S. Bach: the Magnificat, BWV 243 and excerpts from the Christmas Oratorio.
Other usual Sooke Philharmonic performances and events will be back this season: the February Tea and Symphony afternoon and The Fling, the July outdoor pops concert in Macgregor Park, in Sooke, as well as the 2017 competition in April, the Sooke Harbour Chamber Music Workshop in May, and the Sooke Secret Garden Tour in June.
The full-orchestra concerts in October and June will take place in the Sooke Community Hall and in the Teechamitsa Theatre at Royal Bay Secondary School in Colwood.
The December concerts will be held in the Sooke Community Hall and the Quarterdeck Ballroom at Royal Roads University on Sooke Road, and Tea and Symphony will take place at Sooke Community Hall.
The orchestra will also be celebrating its 20th season next June. The Sooke Philharmonic’s first concert took place in June 1997.
For dates, times, tickets, and more information, go online to sookephil.ca.