Pasadena Community Orchestra Closes Its 43rd Season with Mozart, Florence Price and a Young Violinist Stepping into the Spotlight

For 43 years, the Pasadena Community Orchestra has done something quietly remarkable: it has put on classical concerts that anyone — student, retiree, neighbor, music skeptic — can walk into for free. On Friday, May 8 at 8 p.m., the all-volunteer orchestra closes its season at the First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena with a program that highlights both an underrated American composer and a young violinist taking her first major bow.

The program opens with Mozart’s “Overture to The Marriage of Figaro,” followed by Florence Price’s “Dances in the Canebrakes” and the Julius Conus Violin Concerto, featuring Rachael Kim, the winner of the orchestra’s Open Division Young Artist Competition. The evening closes with Arturo Márquez’s exuberant “Conga del Fuego.” A pre-concert discussion begins at 7:15 p.m. in the lobby and auditorium.

The Pasadena Community Orchestra was founded to enrich the community by giving local musicians an outlet for serious orchestral performance and giving local audiences a place to hear it without an admission barrier. Florence Price, the first Black woman composer to have her music performed by a major American orchestra, has been increasingly programmed across the country in recent years; her “Dances in the Canebrakes” — orchestrated by William Grant Still from Price’s piano original — is a radiant example of why.

Donations are welcome, online or at the welcome desk, but admission is, as always, free. Free parking is available on the church grounds.

Pasadena Community Orchestra will run on Friday, May 8 at 8 p.m. Pre-concert discussion at 7:15 p.m. First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena, 3700 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 445-6708 or visit pcomusic.org. Admission is free.