Our festival opening concert features three pieces inspired by and portraying America from three different centuries. Florence Price’s 1939 Concert Overture No. 1 reworks a spiritual “Sinner, Please Don’t Let This Harvest Pass” where ever changing orchestral colors interpret many deeply emotional moments. Virtuoso composer Xavier Foley will then play his own Soul Bass concerto, recently finished in 2022, an all-American exposition, paying tribute to the diverse styles that weave into the colorful musical tapestry of today. The concert concludes with Dvořak’s famous New World Symphony, the first major symphonic success out of the New World.

A local favorite is headed to a new stage at Battle High School! Come dressed up as your favorite characters as the MOSY orchestra plays music from Encanto, Back to the Future, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, and more! Alongside great American films and pops, Sousa’s marches and contemporary fanfares will help us celebrate July Fourth early and recognize all those who served and are serving in the US Armed Forces.

We are excited to bring back Chamber Concerts as part of our summer music festival. Join us for these intimate musical experiences led by our fantastic MOSY musicians.

Composer Molly Joyce composed a contemporary climate-aware response to Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ, confronting the slow yet looming crisis, alluding to the individual actions as missing the forest for the trees when systematic destruction is ignored. Fauré’s tragic love story Pelléas et Mélisande follows this journey into the woods, before handing off to Haydn’s Symphony No. 103 “Drumroll,” where a seemingly peaceful and pastoral E-flat major hides a warning of an ambiguous dies irae in its theme.

We are excited to bring back Chamber Concerts as part of our summer music festival. Join us for these intimate musical experiences led by our fantastic MOSY musicians.

Marianna von Martinez, a fairly known composer of her time (and one time neighbor and friend of Joseph Haydn), is largely a forgotten name in the classical music scene until very recently. She is now recognized as among the first women to compose for the orchestra. In this concert, we will rediscover her inventive three movement suite of Overture in C major, as we pair up Schubert’s Rosamund Overture and the “Great” C major symphony, celebrating his achievements and artistry despite, at one point, also at risk of being forgotten. Both ahead of their time, the music of these two pioneers can only be described as timeless.

Join us to celebrate a wrap on the 2025 Firefly Music Festival!