Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA Presents VSO Holiday Pops, with Maestro Farkhad Khudyev and Clarinetist David Shifrin at Skyview Concert Hall

Guest conductor Farkhad Khudyev leads this Holiday Pops program, which opens with a grand overture by Suppé, and a suite from Tchaikovsky’s well-known Swan Lake. After an evocative work by Florence Price, we welcome clarinetist David Shifrin for a set of three entertaining works: by Eldar Hudiyev, John Williams, and Michele Mangani’s Blues from “An American in Paris.” After a pair of Holiday favorites by Leroy Anderson, we end, as always, in Vienna!

The 2024/25 Symphonic Series season is presented by United Grain Corporation.

ABOUT FARKHAD KHUDYEV

Farkhad Khudyev, of Azerbaijani descent, was born in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, where he first studied violin, piano and composition at the State Music School for gifted musicians. At the age of 10, he distinguished himself as the youngest performer selected to play with the National Violin Ensemble of Turkmenistan and toured around Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Currently, Mr. Khudyev serves as the Music Director of the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra and the Assistant Professor of Music in Orchestral Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as the Music Director of the Orchestral Institute at the Hidden Valley Institute of the Arts in Carmel, California.

ABOUT DAVID SHIFRIN

An artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1989, Mr. Shifrin served as its Artistic Director from 1992 to 2004. He has toured extensively throughout the United States with CMSLC and hosted and performed in several national television broadcasts on PBS's Live from Lincoln Center. He also served as Artistic Director of Portland's Chamber Music Northwest from 1981 through 2020 and is currently Artistic Director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Festival.

PROGRAM:

Suppé: Light Cavalry Overture
Tchaikovsky: Suite from “Swan Lake,” Op. 20a
Price: Dances in the Canebrakes
Hudiyev: Circus*
Williams: Viktor's Tale from "The Terminal"*
Mangani: Blues from "An American in Paris"*
Anderson: A Christmas Festival
Anderson: Sleigh Ride
Strauss II: Tristch-Tratsch Polka
Strauss I: Radetzky March

*David Shifrin, clarinet

PRE-CONCERT TALK:

An hour before each performance, 6 PM on Saturday and 2 PM on Sunday, all ticket holders will enjoy an educational pre-concert talk from a VSO Musician or VSO's Music Director and Conductor Salvador Brotons. Don’t miss this special opportunity to learn all about the history of the music that will follow!

Livestream link: https://mediacampus.com/live/vso/

Artists:

• The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA
• Farkhad Khudyev, conductor
• David Shifrin, clarinet