The Fort Collins Symphony, under the direction of Maestro Wes Kenney, will begin its 68th Season titled A Season of Diversity on Saturday October 7, 2017 with A Cultural Assortment. The orchestra will play Jean Sibelius’ ground-breaking Symphony No. 5. Guest artist and 16-year-old virtuoso Ray Ushikubo will perform Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

The symphony will also perform African American composer Adolphus Hailstork’s moving hymn interpretations in Three Spirituals for Orchestra. The vibrant Cubanesque rhythms of Mexican composer Arturo Marquez’s Danzon No. 2 will conclude the exciting kick off of the season.

Exhibiting an innate musicality well beyond his years, Japanese-American pianist and violinist Ray Ushikubo has already performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Since his solo orchestral debut at age 10 with the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra at Los Angeles’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ray has appeared with world-renowned pianist Lang Lang, and with pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. A recipient of the prestigious Davidson Fellow Laureate Award in 2014, Ray won the 2016 Piano Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival and School and the 2017 Hilton Head International Piano Competition. Since 2010, Ray has studied piano with Ory Shihor at the Colburn School’s Music Academy, a pre-college program designed to prepare extraordinary young artists for careers as well-rounded professional musicians, where he is a Camille and Arnon Adar Scholar.

Tickets for the concert may be purchased by calling the Lincoln Center at 970.221.6730 or by CLICKING HERE . The Fort Collins Symphony’s Season sponsors are the City of Fort Collins Fort Fund and Dr. Peter Springberg, and the Masterworks 1 concert sponsors are Ann K. Yanagi and Scott Johnston and Russell & Mills Studios.

For more information about the upcoming Fort Collins Symphony Season, please CLICK HERE or call 970.482.4823.