Orchestra Tour to Travel to the Sierras

The 60-member Westmont College Orchestra travels from Southern California to the Sierras during its five-day road trip, Feb. 15-19. The spring tour begins in Santa Barbara and includes concert stops in Grass Valley, Calif., Yosemite, Mariposa, Calif., and Los Angeles. Admission is free to most performances, although a goodwill offering will be taken.

The orchestra, under the direction of Michael Shasberger, will perform Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” as orchestrated by Maurice Ravel, Jean Sibelius’ “Karelia Suite,” Edward Elgar’s “Pomp & Circumstance #4” and a world premiere, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” by Westmont student-composer Daniel Gee.

“The orchestra’s annual tour is a highlight of the season for the musicians and a tremendous outreach for Westmont,” Shasberger says. “It brings Westmont’s story to a wide-ranging and diverse audience and heightens the performance skills and experiences of our students.”

The orchestra performs at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Arroyo Grande on Friday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m.; St. Joseph’s Cultural Center in Grass Valley, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. (admission is $10); in worship at Sierra Presbyterian Church in Grass Valley (with the Westmont Chapel Band) on Sunday, Feb. 17, at 9 and 10:30 a.m.; Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church in Oakhurst, Calif., on Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.; and Mariposa High School on Monday, Feb. 18, at 8 p.m. The orchestra performs with the Temple City High School Orchestra on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 1 p.m. at the high school.

If you would like to receive updates while the orchestra is on tour, please check the Westmont Orchestra Facebook group or email music@westmont.edu to be added to the mailing list.