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MYSO is operating as a nonprofit under the fiscal sponsorship of the Collaborative Arts & Culture Foundation.
For those wishing to donate to the Mariposa Yosemite Symphony Orchestra by check, please make your check out to "CACF" and be sure to write "MYSO" on your check's memo line.
Please send to:

CACF - MYSO
Harmony Rancho
2627 State Hwy 49 S
Mariposa, CA 95338

A Message from MYSO Founding Music Director and Conductor Les Marsden

Dear Friends:
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16 at 7 PM

is this year's concert date, as announced previously

Yes, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, and we're particularly fortunate to be holding this year's Festive Holiday Concert in the beautiful, acoustically-wonderful auditorium of Mariposa's First Baptist Church. I cannot thank Pastors Ray Shull and Benjamin Youngren enough for their warm reception extended to me, the orchestra - and of course, to all of you.




The church is conveniently located on 5005 Frank Wilson Road, just off Highway 49 North. Drive about one mile from the four-way-stop at the north end of town, and turn on Frank Wilson Road, just past the Mariposa Human Services complex/Lemee Lane. Follow the signs along Frank Wilson Road, drive less than a half mile to the church at the end of the road ?and enjoy the ample parking.

This is always one of our most popular annual events, and tickets are NOW on sale online ?see the link at left. As always, tickets are discounted if purchased in advance online at only $10 per adult and $8 per student. IF there are tickets remaining (and keep in mind that the First Baptist Church has fewer seats than the Fiester) available to be sold at the door, the prices are $15/adults and $10/students on the evening of the concert.

First Baptist promises to be a wonderful concert setting: the seats are comfortable, and I cannot wait to present the full sound of YOUR Mariposa Yosemite Symphony Orchestra in that space.

You?l find my full program notes available NOW for online reading or download - my writings on each composer and their works - just click on the button above. I've programmed the following - and my idea for this concert was simply "Just for fun!" Nothing heavy - it's all tune-filled, wonderful music for people who may think they don't know or care about "concert" music:

  • Mozart: Overture to "The Marriage of Figaro"
  • Engelbert Humperdinck: Evening Prayer from the opera "Hansel und Gretel"
  • Alexander Borodin: On the Steppes of Central Asia
  • Pietro Mascagni: Intermezzo from the opera "Cavalleria Rusticana"
  • Jacques Offenbach/Carl Binder: Overture to the opera "Orphée aux Enfers"
(INTERMISSION)
  • Louis-Ferdinand Hérold: Overture to the opera "Zampa"
  • Serge Prokofiev: Lt. Kijé Suite
  • Les Marsden: Sierra Christmas Party

As I wrote in the program for our very first concert - EVER, back on December 21, 2002, I wanted - and STILL want our annual Festive Holiday Concert to be an evening of respite from shopping, cooking, and all the other demands of the season - demands which may sometimes bring stress. And so, this is an evening during which we might all come, friends, relatives, neighbors, strangers of all beliefs - to gather together under the finest of circumstances, in the warmth of each other's company for a little good old-fashioned musical Holiday joy - best summed up by that (spoken) final line of "Sierra Christmas Party".

Join us - and truly discover the best way to get into the Holiday Spirit!


All Yosemite National Park (Glacier Point) photos on this page are NPS photographs by Al Golub, August 21, 2016.

London-based Arts/Cultural Critic and Author Norman Lebrecht referenced this Al Golub photograph in 2016 as "Orchestral Portrait of the Year"

(Last Updated 11/28/23)