The Sooke Philharmonic is heading into the 2016-2017 season with a finely tuned bang.
Maestro Norman Nelson will return to conduct the first concerts of the season during the Celebration of Young Artists.
The concerts will also feature the winner of the Don Chrysler Concerto Competition held last April.
This year’s winner, Kevin Chen, will perform the Khachaturian “Violin Concerto in D minor.” The other two works on the program, the lively “Russian and Ludmilla Overture” by Glinka and Tchaikovsky’s passionate “Symphony No. 4,” will make it a concert of Russian masterpieces.
Their music will fill the Teechamitsa Theatre at Royal Bay secondary on Saturday, Oct. 29, starting at 7:30 p.m.
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.”
Later in the season, another young concerto competition winner, Ya-Ping Huang, will be playing the second piano concerto by Rachmaninoff.
The June concert series will also feature “Adagio” from the Khachaturian “Spartacus Suite No. 2” and a composition by the Philharmonic’s choral director, Nicholas Fairbank, called “Sea Cantata.”
June 2017 also marks a special milestone as the orchestra and society will be celebrating their 20th season.
The June concerts will also take place in the Teechamitsa Theatre in Colwood and in the Sooke Community Hall.
The December concerts will be held in the Sooke Community Hall and at the Quarterdeck Ballroom on the campus of Royal Roads University in Colwood.
For information on dates, times and tickets, go to sookephil.ca.
katie@goldstreamgazette.com