Alaska Youth Orchestras at Alaska Center for the Performing Arts

oin the award-winning Anchorage Youth Symphony in its 20th season under the artistic direction of Linn Weeda. Each concert features the Anchorage Youth Philharmonic with debut conductor William Waag. The 150 members of the Alaska Youth Orchestras come from throughout south central Alaska to participate in the "2nd best orchestra in Alaska."

Anchorage Youth Symphony's program this year is filled with some of the brightest and most interesting work in the repertoire. The season kicks off with Copland's beautiful and rhythmic Appalachian Spring - a Pulitzer prize winning ballet written for the incomparable choreographer Martha Graham. The evening concludes with Pines of Rome, Ottorino Respighi's brilliant and poetic description of his beloved Rome.

AYS's second concert starts with Brahms' Academic Festival Overture, a work written after the famous composer received an honorary degree. Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky is an important addition per Artistic Director Linn Weeda as it was part of the very first orchestral concert he ever played. It is a brilliant work filled with exciting rhythms and brilliant orchestral color. The concert ends with Smetana's Moldau that depicts the mighty river that flows through the Czech Republic. This Magnificent work is being performed in recognition of AYS's recent tour to central Europe.

The final concert of the season features the winner of AYS's concerto competition, and will also include Borodin's magnificent Symphony No. 2. Borodin was a brilliant and world famous chemistry professor at Moscow University who composed in his spare time.