2022 Young Artist Auditions
The North State Symphony announces the 2022 Young Artist Auditions. The YAA honors young musicians in the North State, both instrumental and vocal. The competition has two divisions, High School and College/University. First and second cash prizes are offered in both divisions, and the first prize winner in each division receives an opportunity to perform a concerto with the North State Symphony in a future concert season.
The 2022 auditions will take place Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 12:00pm in the Rowland Taylor Recital Hall, CSU Chico. Auditions are free and open to the public. Face masks will be required of all attendees and participants at all times. The Young Artists Auditions are a project of the Chico Guild ~ North State Symphony, which awards the High School Division prizes. The North State Symphony League of Redding provides the College/University Division Prizes.
NSS Memberships
We introduced Memberships last year for our all-virtual season, as a way to stay in touch with you through a wealth of virtual concerts, interviews, watch parties, and more. Even though we're back to the concert hall for our 2021-22 Season, we hope you'll consider continuing to support us by becoming a Member. Members get lots of discounts and perks, and if you aren't ready to come back to the concert hall quite yet, your Membership will still get you access to all of our concerts and pre-concert talks, from the comfort of your home.
You can review Membership Benefits now, and purchase your Membership starting on July 17th.
2021-22 Season Greetings From the Maestro
Welcome to the 21st season of your North State Symphony!
After such a trying year away from live music, it seems as if we are given a unique opportunity to be reintroduced to the world around us and to see things with fresh eyes and ears. We are given an opportunity to experience concerts not as just live music events, but as bonding experiences with our community to reflect on the times, both past and present.
Our new season is Crescendo, and - just as the name implies - we’re going to start with a whisper, a restlessness for creation in a work written by one of the world’s great composers in a time with incredible parallels to what we have lived in the past year. Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale is not only a work of immense adaptation, but also takes us on a journey through the universal quest for happiness.
Our anticipation for the culmination of the crescendo with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is nurtured along the journey with world-class guest artists, community collaborations, known and unknown composers, and timeless classics blended with new and impactful works representative of our modern and ever-changing world.
In this incredible time of rediscovery and self-reflection, we strive to be an orchestra of our communities and the incredible music that fills our halls will always be the essence of who we are and the most fundamental glue that binds us.
I look forward to sharing this season filled with new experiences with all of you!
Musically yours,
Season Finale Virtual Concert
Our last virtual concert of the season, "To The Fore", is coming to you on May 6th!
In this finale of our 20th season, we celebrate composers and works that use exotic combinations of instruments and orchestral colors to tell unique stories.
The concert begins with Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Chamber Symphony, a work whose elaborate melodic writing and rich and varied sonorities explore a profound world of “grief, outrage, and bewilderment” (New York Times).
Next is Jennifer Higdon's Dark Wood, featuring NSS principal bassoonist Jarratt Rossini with a dizzy whirlwind of fast-paced chromatic phrases, competing against an array of rhythmic and percussive elements from the whole ensemble. Higdon encourages the listener to form their own impressions while experiencing the bassoon’s extraordinary sonic versatility that stems from the beauty of its “dark wood”.
The program and our season conclude with the light-hearted suite from the ballet La Revue de Cuisine by Bohuslav Martinu, a witty jazz-inspired toe-tapping comedy with a bizarre story where kitchen utensils come to life in a romantic culinary soap opera.
We're thrilled to welcome Maestro Seaton back to the podium to conduct all three pieces, with our largest chamber music ensembles of the season.
"To The Fore" will premiere Thursday, May 6 at 7pm PST on NSS YouTube and north state Public Access TV. A pre-concert talk will premiere live on Tuesday, May 4 at 7pm PST on NSS YouTube and Facebook.