April 5, 2025 – The Mariposa Yosemite Symphony Orchestra's "In Like a Lion, Out Like a BIGGER Lion" Spring Concerts are only one week away. The concerts will be presented on Saturday, April 12th at 7:00 P.M. at Mariposa's First Baptist Church located at 5005 Frank Wilson Road and on Sunday, April 13th at 2:00 P.M. in the Garden Terrace of Yosemite Valley Lodge, Northside Drive, Yosemite National Park. Full concert details, tickets and extensive program notes are available at http://MYSO.live.
The Saturday, April 12th concert's advance-sale discounted tickets of only $10/Adults and $8/Students are now available by secure online purchase at https://tinyurl.com/MYSO4-12-25. Ticket prices increase substantially at the door, with advance-purchase tickets strongly urged.
The Yosemite concert is free, with a suggested $10 donation at the door. No tickets, just first-come, first-seated.
The repertoire - hand-picked by MYSO Founding Music Director/Conductor Les Marsden - is exciting and well-known to virtually anyone whether a classical aficionado or not. The 150th Anniversary of Georges Bizet's death AND the premiere of his greatest opera "Carmen" are celebrated with both Suites from that opera, music that's ubiquitous from pop culture. Equally famed and recognizable are both Suites from Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt" Incidental Music, including "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and "Morning Mood." The concert will open with the lesser-known, but dramatic overture to Robert Schumann's music for Lord Byron's "Manfred."
The MYSO is grateful for its historic fiscal sponsorship from Yosemite Hospitality, a Subdivision of Aramark. That sponsorship makes the orchestra's free concerts in Yosemite possible and the orchestra could not be more appreciative of its partnership with the National Park Service and Yosemite National Park, dating back to 2007.
This orchestra is a rarity in such a rural, sparsely-populated area, but it has achieved the status of being Yosemite's "Official" Symphony Orchestra. Its home base of Mariposa grants that town recognition as the smallest in all America with its own symphony orchestra, and a true gift to the people of the entire region who would otherwise be denied access to live symphonic music by dint of geography. The orchestra, founded in 2002, is currently in its 23rd year and 20th season.
Full information and tickets are available at the orchestra's website: http://MYSO.live.
MYSO performing atop Glacier Point's 7,200-foot elevation with Half Dome in the distance - August 21, 2016. (National Park Service Photo by Al Golub.)
MYSO in its regular Yosemite home: the Great Lounge of the Ahwahnee Hotel - April 7, 2019.
(Photo Credit the estate of Miguel Maldonado.)
Source: MYSO