[photo credit: Pasadena Community Orchestra]
Music Director Bethany Pflueger, entering her 13th season, will lead 60 to 70 volunteer musicians at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena.
Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” may be best known from Disney’s 1940 “Fantasia,” but the ballet sequence originated in his opera “La Gioconda,” which premiered at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala on April 8, 1876. The piece depicts Dawn, Day, Twilight, and Night through dance.
Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 earned its “Surprise Symphony” nickname from a sudden fortissimo chord that interrupts the quiet Andante movement. The work premiered at London’s Hanover Square Rooms on March 23, 1792.
The program concludes with Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” a four-movement symphonic suite based on “The Thousand and One Nights.” Composed in summer 1888, the work features musical motifs representing the Sultan and the storyteller Scheherazade, portrayed by solo violin.
Pflueger earned a 2005 Grammy Award as piccolo player with Southwest Chamber Music. The orchestra, founded in 1983 by Wayne Reinecke, has performed at First Church of the Nazarene since 1987.
All concerts are free with no tickets required, and the venue provides ample free parking.
Pasadena Community Orchestra season opening concert will run on Friday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. (pre-concert discussion at 7:15 p.m.). First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena, 3700 East Sierra Madre Blvd., Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 351-9631 or visit https://www.pcomusic.org/event/7nov2025/. Admission: Free.
