Cal State San Bernardino will host an evening of music on Thursday, May 8, at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Building Recital Hall. The CSUSB Symphony Orchestra will present a program showcasing the 2024-25 CSUSB Young Artist Concerto Competition winners, original compositions by CSUSB student composers, and celebrated works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Wolfgang Korngold.

Tickets for the concert are available now. Attendees must also purchase a CSUSB parking permit through the ParkMobile website, app, or campus kiosks. Parking permits are $10 per vehicle.

The CSUSB Symphony Orchestra is committed to providing its student musicians with a rich educational experience, offering opportunities to perform a wide-ranging symphonic repertoire, engage with composers and guest artists, and premiere new commissions. As part of this tradition, the orchestra will debut three new pieces composed specifically for this performance by members of the CSUSB Composition Studio: “The Dying Light” by Nicholas Mundo, “Harran II” by Ian Kyle Granada, and “Harrowhearth” by Adam Arroyo.

"The collaboration with the CSUSB Symphony has always been an annual highlight for the students of my composition studio,” said Kevin Zhang, professor of composition. “The composers work very hard to draft, edit, and finalize these works over the course of many months. Then, when they get the opportunity to hear their works come to life played by dozens of musicians in rehearsals and in performance, it culminates in an exciting and rewarding experience."

The concert will also highlight the talents of this year’s Young Artist Concerto Competition winners. Pre-college finalist Wayne Wang will perform “Zigeunerweisen,” Op. 20 for Violin and Orchestra by Pablo de Sarasate, while collegiate finalist Raymond Yoo will perform the first two movements of “Concertino da Camera” for Alto Saxophone and Eleven Instruments by Jacques Ibert.

Guest conductor Susan Barnes will join the orchestra for this performance. Barnes, who leads the orchestral program at Carter High School and recently earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Claremont Graduate University, has been a vibrant presence in rehearsals this semester.

"I am thrilled to work with such talented musicians and am grateful to Dr. Lewis for the opportunity to conduct such a fine ensemble,” said Barnes. “The CSUSB Symphony Orchestra students have rehearsed diligently and shown an exceptional aptitude for collaboration with each other, the student composers, and our guest soloists from the young artist competition. This will be an epic concert worth attending!"

Under Barnes' baton, the orchestra will perform Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s spirited “Danse Nègre” from “African Suite,” Op. 35, No. 4, a piece inspired by the writings of African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. The evening will conclude with a rousing performance of Wolfgang Korngold’s “Symphonic Suite” from the 1938 film “The Adventures of Robin Hood.”

For more information about music productions at CSUSB, contact Sara Bobbitt, public affairs/communication specialist for the Department of Music, at sara.bobbitt@csusb.edu, call the Department of Music Box Office at (909) 537-7516, or visit the CSUSB Music Department’s website.