Join YOSA Philharmonic for America at 250, a powerful program that marks 250 years of independence with music and poetry that reflect the nation’s spirit, struggle, and soul.

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YOSA Presents: America at 250

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

Celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding with the music that resonated through the American colonies during the fight for independence. Sounds of a New Nation brings to life the anthems, hymns, and symphonic works that shaped the soundscape of early America, juxtaposing patriotic fervor and European influences, and hear these anthems and hymns woven into the dizzying tapestry of Ives’s A Symphony.

Sounds of a New Nation

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts

The Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble utilizes a flexible instrumentation of winds, brass, and percussion to perform repertoire from standard concert band works to contemporary compositions of various instrumental combinations.

Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble

Schenley Farms Historic District

Step into the rich soundscape of American music with a concert that celebrates sweeping melodies, heartfelt lyricism, and bold orchestral colors. William Schuman’s New England Triptych sets the stage with vibrant energy, drawing inspiration from the spirit of early American composer William Billings. Rising star Amaryn Olmeda then takes the spotlight in Barber’s Violin Concerto, a masterpiece of lush beauty and breathtaking virtuosity. The evening reaches a glorious conclusion with Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2, "Romantic", a soaring work filled with passion, grandeur, and one of the most unforgettable melodies in American symphonic music.

Romance & Revolution

Williamsburg Community Chapel

Representing a variety of majors across campus, the University Band is joined by the Maryland Community Band for a concert of traditional and contemporary wind band music in a performance perfect for all ages.

University & Community Band Concert

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Get ready for Opening Day when we present Schuman’s The Mighty Casey, based on the famous 19th century story, Casey at the Bat. In true LOOC fashion, we’re presenting this with a twist, for Women’s Month. This is a musical story the whole family will love!

The Mighty Casey

OC Music & Dance

When purchasing a ticket to a Clayes Performing Arts Center event, you agree to adhere to all COVID-19 safety entry requirements in effect at the time of the event.

University Wind Symphony

California State University, Fullerton

Furniture or architecture might come to mind when one hears the phrase "mid-century modern," but the creative style also impacted the music of the time. You’ll likely discover a mid-century work you’ve never heard before on this program for a cappella chorus.

Mid-Century Modern

St. Gregory's Episcopal Church

Church of the Little Flower

All Saints Episcopal Church

Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church

The CMU Chorus performs works inspired by William Shakespeare's plays, including pieces written by George Shearing, Matthew Harris, William Schuman, and more. The plays featured include Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, Henry VIII, and Macbeth.

CMU Chorus & Singers

Carnegie Mellon University

MAP Wind Ensemble, String Ensemble, Orchestra

The Juilliard School

UA Wind Symphony

The University of Arizona

Copland’s Concerto swings in the hands of New York Philharmonic’s brilliant Principal Clarinet, Anthony McGill, while the DSO and DSO Chorus, led by Fabio Luisi, enthrall with a quintessential Romantic subject: the battle for the soul of Faust. You’ll recognize the protagonists by their music — heroic, lyrical, infernal — and be moved by the tenor solo and all-male “mystical chorus” exalting woman-eternal.


Copland and Liszt

Meyerson Symphony Center

The Wind Symphony welcomes world-renowned composer, David Amram, for the premiere performance of the band version of his orchestra work This Land: Symphonic Variations on a Song by Woody Guthrie. DMA Wind Conducting student Shawn Davern will conduct the Wind Symphony on this transcription, completed by Davern in collaboration with the composer. The program also includes William Schuman’s New England Triptych and Sousa's The Liberty Bell March.

Wind Symphony

Weigel Auditorium

A note from the Maestro: In paying tribute to the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, our programming was chosen to represent a wide berth of compositional contributions from various corners of the U.S. Pairing Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman with Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man gives us a unique opportunity of reflection across the decades. Valerie Colman’s Umoja (Anthem of Unity) is now a staple in concert halls across the nation, and the New England Triptych by William Schuman takes us on a musical journey to a New England of the not-so-distant past. Our season finale concert culminates in a suite of much-beloved music from George Gershwin’s opera, “Porgy and Bess.”

William Schuman

Events

Upcoming events

Apr 22, 2026

Wind Symphony · The Ohio State University School of Music

Apr 26, 2026

Our American Story · Bangor Symphony Orchestra

Past events

Mar 1, 2026

YOSA Presents: America at 250 · Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

20 - 21 Feb, 2026

Sounds of a New Nation · Louisville Orchestra

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