Yosemite Region's Symphony Orchestra Returns
April 2, 2023 - After a 40-month COVID hiatus, the Mariposa Yosemite Symphony Orchestra (MYSO) is back in action with concerts on Saturday, April 29th and Sunday, April 30th in Mariposa and at Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp, led by its Founding Music Director and Conductor Les Marsden. The orchestra is now in its 21st year, and these concert events will allow its 18th "Season Interruptus" to resume, following its last pre-COVID performance on December 21, 2019.
The program for the upcoming concerts will be Beethoven's "Leonore Overture #3," the original rarely-heard first version of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture" and Vasily Kalinnikov's "Symphony #1 in g minor." Those concerts will be held at 7:00 P.M. on Saturday, April 29 in the Fiester Auditorium at Mariposa County High School, 5074 Old Highway N, Mariposa and as a matinee on Sunday, April 30th at 2:00 P.M. in the Ballroom at Tenaya Lodge, 1122 Highway 41 in Fish Camp, just south of Yosemite's South Entrance.
Ticket prices have remained largely the same - all Yosemite in-park concert admissions (and the Tenaya Lodge matinee concert) will have a suggested donation of $10 per adult and $8 per student at the door.
All Mariposa Fiester Auditorium admissions are now strongly encouraged to be purchased online in advance, due to COVID-precaution guidelines limiting cash contact. Advance-sale tickets will also guarantee admission in the case of sold-out concerts. Tickets will be available starting Monday, April 10th via a secure online ticketing agency dedicated to non-profit organizations through the orchestra's website MYSO.live and those advance-purchase tickets will remain the same low $10 per adult and $8 per student. At-the-door tickets will no longer be sold, however - but those without advance-purchase tickets will still be able to gain admission if seats remain with a suggested donation of $15 per adult and $10 per student. All cash or check donations at the door(s) will be placed by patrons in a container and no change will be available.
There have been changes during the interim: the orchestra's name now includes the word "Yosemite," denoting the location of half its annual concerts. Over the past three-plus years of hiatus, some musicians have moved out of the area and new musicians have been recruited to replace them. Most notably, the organization is now a fully-independent entity, operating as a 501(C)(3) affiliated with the Collaborative Arts and Culture Foundation (CACF). All donations to the orchestra are tax-deductible, with information on the orchestra's website http://MYSO.live
The Tenaya Lodge concert was made possible through the kind courtesy of General Manager Brett Archer and the orchestra is grateful to play in that resort's facility, owned and operated by Delaware North.
The Mariposa Yosemite Symphony Orchestra has been honored to partner with Yosemite National Park for over 15 years, and the park's concessionaire Yosemite Hospitality is a major fiscal supporter and sponsor of the orchestra. Visit MYSO.live for information about the orchestra and contacts. Concert information will be available on the site beginning Monday, April 10th.
Photo: The orchestra in a standing-room-only 2019 concert in the Ahwahnee’s Great Lounge, with an enthusiastic young conductor-to-be in the foreground. Anonymously contributed uncredited photo.
Mariposa Yosemite Symphony Orchestra Returns with Performances on April 29 & 30, 2023
