EDMONDS—The Cascade Symphony Orchestra (CSO) opens its 64th season on Monday, October 27, at 7:30 p.m., performing music by Mendelssohn, Grieg, Goldmark, Liadov, and Kabalevsky for its Opening Night and Piano Celebration concert at the Edmonds Center for the Arts (ECA), 410 4th Avenue North, in Edmonds.
Michael Miropolsky, in his 24th season as Cascade Symphony’s Music Director, says it will be “an evening of virtuoso piano music and hidden orchestral gems.”
The program includes a work rarely if ever performed in the Seattle area with the 2nd Symphony by Dmitri Kabalevsky, a lesser known but equally talented contemporary of Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Also on the program is In the Garden, a wonderfully romantic work by the Austrian composer Karl Goldmark from his “Rustic Wedding” Symphony, and a short tone poem titled Baba Yaga, by the 19th century Russian composer, Anatoly Liadov.
The concert opens with two virtuosic works for piano and orchestra. “We have worked with the Eastside Piano Teachers Competition to feature two very talented young men who won the competition this year. Aaron Jin will perform the first movement of Edvard Grieg’s wonderful Piano Concerto in A Minor. Jeffrey Zhao, who appeared with us once before in 2022, will dazzle the audience with Felix Mendelssohn’s youthfully exuberant First Piano Concerto,” Miropolsky said.
Both Jin and Zhao have won multiple gold medals in regional and international piano competitions, including the Pacific Northwest, Bellevue Symphony, and Seattle International Virtuoso competitions, and have been finalists in numerous piano competitions in the United States, Europe and China.
A pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m., by KING-FM radio personality Dave Beck, will preview the musical highlights for the Opening Night and Piano Celebration.
Concert ticket prices are: $30 for adults; $25 for those under age 50; and $10 for youth (12 and younger).
Tickets can be purchased online through the ECA website (https://www.edmondscenterforthearts.org/event-categories/cascade-symphony-orchestra/) or by telephone (425-275-9595) or in person. The ECA Box Office may be reached by email at boxoffice@ec4arts.org. The Box Office is open 12-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with extended hours on performance nights.
The Cascade Symphony is also accepting applications for its 2025 Rising Star Competition, open to pianists and violinists age 12 or younger as of February 2026, and to other instrumentalists age 15 or younger. Winner(s) will perform on the Symphony’s Family Concert in February, with applications due by November 1.
Additional information about the Cascade Symphony Orchestra, its full 2025-26 concert season and the Rising Stars Competition is available online at www.cascadesymphony.org.
Author: Lynnwood Times Staff
