News Flash!

All Seasons Orchestra will play two concerts soon. Sunday, April 14 from 5-7 pm the orchestra will play at the D Street Neighborhood Center, 1301 D Street, Arcata. On Saturday, April 20 from 3-5 pm, ASO will reprise the same music at the Trinidad Town Hall, 409 Trinity Street, Trinidad. These concerts are both free and open to the public.

All Seasons Orchestra has been rehearsing a new (for us) set of music since our last concert in December. By design, this set of music focuses on “things that happen in spring.” Three starkly different weddings are featured prominently in three different pieces. Three Dances from the Opera the Bartered Bride by Bedrich Smetana memorializes a comic story of groom switching. Procession of the Nobles is from the tragic opera Mlada by Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov which tells the tale of a murdered bride’s ghost seeking revenge against her murderer and rival for the affections of her true love. The third wedding detailed in the opera Zampa, from which the Overture will be played, comically portrays the wedding of an erstwhile pirate whose former jilted lover in the form of a marble statue is resurrected to denounce him and send him to hell.

The program celebrates the beauty and majesty of nature with Antonin Vivaldi’s Spring and Felix Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture, also well-known as Fingal’s Cave. Additional selections for the evening include Leroy Anderson’s Syncopated Clock, Oliver! by Alfred Reed, and Rhapsody on Melodies by Stephen Foster.

All Seasons Orchestra is dedicated to providing musical experience for players of all ages and skill levels. ASO plays a wide variety of music, and a typical concert will feature classical selections alongside musicals, movie music, patriotic music, and popular music. The orchestra is also committed to providing musical enrichment through concerts for the community, and has performed at various venues including Trinidad Town Hall, the River Lodge in Fortuna, as well as its home facility at the D Street Neighborhood Center in Arcata.

All Seasons Orchestra is actively recruiting string players, including violins, violas, cellos, and basses. In addition, ASO seeks additional percussion players, as well as a harpist and pianist or keyboard player. If you play a stringed instrument, please call Concertmaster Holly MacDonell at 499-1399. If you play harp, piano or percussion, please call Conductor Jeremy R. Cotton at 832-8888. Anyone may join the orchestra as a musician – there is no requirement for an audition or a portfolio of musical experience. The entry level skills needed are the ability to read music and basic knowledge of the fundamentals of playing your instrument.

All Seasons Orchestra is an activity of the City of Arcata, Division of Parks and Recreation. There is a small fee: $25 per season/$31 non-residents and scholarships are available. Rehearsals are held most Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the D Street Neighborhood Center, 1301 D St., Arcata. For information please call Dick LaForge at (707) 443-2626, visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/AllSeasonsOrchestra/, or on the web at https://allseasonsorchestra.org/. You may sign up for the current season at any rehearsal or by visiting the website for the City of Arcata, at https://rec.cityofarcata.org/wbwsc/webtrac.wsc/search.html?module=AR&type=MUSIC

All ASO concerts are free and open to the public, and free refreshments are served. Donations are gratefully accepted.

Spring Concert 2017 B

Members of All Seasons Orchestra performing a Spring Concert at the D Street Center in 2017.

Press Release December 3, 2018

All Seasons Orchestra Celebrates Beethoven’s Birthday

As luck would have it, All Seasons Orchestra’s winter concert at D Street Neighborhood Center falls on Beethoven’s birthday, December 16. In honor of Beethoven’s birthday, the orchestra will perform one of his lighter works, the overture to the only full length ballet he ever wrote, The Creatures of Prometheus. Prometheus was the mythological god who, despite the prohibitions of the other gods, gave humans (his “creatures”) fire. This music is remarkable for its lightness and simplicity, unlike the heavy, intense, sometimes brooding Beethoven we know from his symphonies. The concert begins at 5 pm.

Saint-Saen’s Bacchanale from “Sampson and Delilah,” and two movements from Mozart’s Third Concerto for Horn, round out the classical portion of the program. Michael Robertson will play the horn solo for the 2^nd movement, the Romanze, and Don Bicknell will play the Third Movement, the Rondo. Favorite holiday music includes Carol of the Bells, Festive Sounds of Hanukah, Skater’s Waltz, Sleigh Ride and Bugler’s Holiday by Leroy Anderson, and a medley of Christmas songs including Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Silver Bells, and I’ll Be Home for Christmas.

As All Seasons Orchestra completes its 30^th year in 2018, it is actively recruiting players in all sections: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Strings are particularly needed, including violins, violas, cellos, and basses. Anyone may join the orchestra as a musician – there is no requirement for an audition or a portfolio of musical experience. The entry level skills needed are the ability to read music and basic knowledge of the fundamentals of playing your instrument.

If you play a musical instrument, ASO may be your opportunity to participate in a community orchestra. All Seasons Orchestra is an activity of the City of Arcata, Division of Parks and Recreation. There is a small fee: $25 per season/$31 non-residents and scholarships are available. Rehearsals are held most Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the D Street Neighborhood Center, 1301 D St., Arcata. For information please call Dick LaForge at (707) 443-2626, visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/AllSeasonsOrchestra/, or on the web at https://allseasonsorchestra.org/. You may sign up for the current season at any rehearsal or by visiting the website for the City of Arcata, at https://rec.cityofarcata.org/wbwsc/webtrac.wsc/search.html?module=AR&type=MUSIC

All ASO concerts are free and open to the public, and free refreshments are served. Donations are gratefully accepted.

Mike and Don Play Horn at Trinidad in 2017

Michael Robertson (left) and Don Bicknell (right) will play the solos in the Third Horn Concerto by Mozart at the All Seasons Orchestra concert, December 16, at 5 pm at the D Street Neighborhood Center, 1301 D Street, Arcata.

Press Release October 16, 2018

Scary Music Played by a Scary Orchestra!

All Seasons Orchestra celebrates autumn with a free concert and party on October 28 at 5 pm at the D Street Neighborhood Center in Arcata. This Halloween-themed event will feature a wide array of scary music including theme music from Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr., Danse Macabre by C. Saint-Saens, Anvil Chorus (The Chorus of the Gipsies) from Il Trovatore by Guiseppe Verdi, selections from the motion picture Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by James Newton Howard, Tanz in der Halle des BergkÖnigs (In the Hall of the Mountain King) from Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg, and Berceuse and Finale from the Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky. And perhaps slightly less frightening, the program will be rounded out with Stradella Overture by F. von Flotow, and the Fugue in G Minor (The Lesser) by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Orchestra has lots of fun planned for our audience on October 28. The orchestra will be in costume, and we invite our audience to come in costume. We will have a Halloween parade at intermission, and Trick-or-Treat candy will be provided before the concert and at intermission. We also invite you to bring your carved jack-o-lanterns to enter our jack-o-lantern contest. We will offer a prize for the most popular jack-o-lantern. After the concert, the orchestra will provide apple cider and snacks. All activities are free. While all ASO concerts are free and open to the public, and free refreshments are served, donations are gratefully accepted at the door.

All Seasons Orchestra is dedicated to providing musical experience for players of all ages and skill levels. ASO plays a wide variety of music, and a typical concert will feature classical selections alongside musicals, movie music, patriotic music, and popular music. The orchestra is also committed to providing musical enrichment through concerts for the community, and has performed at various venues including Trinidad Town Hall, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in McKinleyville, the River Lodge in Fortuna, as well as its home facility at the D Street Neighborhood Center in Arcata.

All Seasons Orchestra began its 30^th year in 2018. It is actively recruiting players in all sections: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Strings are particularly needed, including violins, violas, cellos, and basses. Anyone may join the orchestra as a musician – there is no requirement for an audition or a portfolio of musical experience. The entry level skills needed are the ability to read music and basic knowledge of the fundamentals of playing your instrument.

If you play a musical instrument, ASO may be your opportunity to participate in a community orchestra. All Seasons Orchestra is an activity of the City of Arcata, Division of Parks and Recreation. There is a small fee: $25 per season for Arcata residents or $31 for non-residents and scholarships are available. Rehearsals are held most Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the D Street Neighborhood Center, 1301 D St., Arcata. To learn more about our orchestra, visit our web page at https://allseasonsorchestra.org/. To express your interest in joining please call our manager, Dick LaForge at (707) 443-2626. Follow us on our Facebook Page at facebook.com/AllSeasonsOrchestra/. You may register for the current season at any rehearsal or by visiting the website for the City of Arcata.

Phamtom Plays Violin Compressed

The Phantom of the Opera (Lanny Her) plays the violin at All Seasons Orchestra Concert and Halloween Party 2017.

Times Standard Article 6/27/2018

Aurora Pitts, family and teacher — Aurora Pitts, 10 years old, our soloist for our June 30 and July 1, 2018 concerts, shown here at the piano with her family and teacher Daniela Mineva.

Times Standard Article 3/17/2018

ASO Spring 2018

All Seasons Orchestra is a family affair. Pictured here from upper left clockwise are the Renfer sisters, Steve and Linda Anderson, Meg and Eddie Kallen, Joe and John Rhodes, and Kathy and Dick LaForge.

Program December 2018

Program Halloween 2018

Program June-July 2018