The Melrose Messenger

Melrose Symphony Orchestra Closes Season with May Pops Finale

By Patrick DeVivo

Despite torrential rains and gusty winds that brought down trees and caused power outages earlier in the evening, the Melrose Symphony Orchestra (MSO) celebrated the closing of its 107th season with its May Pops Finale concert on Saturday, May 3rd at Memorial Hall. The MSO is the longest continuously running all-voluntary orchestra in the country.

The concert opened with “Liberty Fanfare,” a piece written by former Boston Pops conductor John Williams to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. The piece evoked the expansive, optimistic American spirit. A medley of Rogers and Hammerstein songs from the musical Oklahoma followed, including classics like “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’,” “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top,” and “People Will Say We’re in Love.”

Moving on from this American theme, Maestro Yoichi Udagawa and the orchestra offered a distinctly different, but no less boisterous, choice. “Selections from Irish Suite” by American composer Leroy Anderson evoked the rollicking joy of an Irish celebration, momentarily making Memorial Hall seem like the venue for an Irish step dance.

Next on the program was an extended medley of songs from the opus of contemporary composer Henry Mancini, arranged by Calvin Custer. The medley moved from one 1960s movie or musical standard to another. Listeners who had previously been unfamiliar with the scope of Mancini's work might have been surprised by how many songs they recognized.

After a brief intermission, Udagawa introduced the guest performer for the evening: concert pianist Karen Walwyn, who is a professor of piano at Berklee College of Music, and an International Steinway Artist Award winner. Her performance of the “Warsaw Concerto” by British composer Richard Addinsel was robust and powerful, and a fitting vehicle for her virtuosity.

When the audience called for an encore, Walwyn took a few minutes to talk about the life of one of her musical inspirations, Florence Price (1887 – 1953), the first African American woman whose work was performed by a major orchestra. Walwyn spoke passionately of the obstacles and fears that Price faced in her time. Walwyn then demonstrated her passion for Price’s legacy by performing a movement from one of Price’s compositions.

After another brief intermission, the orchestra returned to close out the evening with two pieces that toed the line between classical music and popular orchestral music. The “NBC Mission Theme” by John Williams turned out to be the full score of the familiar ten-note introduction that can be heard every evening on the NBC Nightly News. The full piece is a series of interpretations of this theme by various sections of the orchestra.

In the pause before the finale, awards were presented to two Melrose High School students, violinists Heather Haseltine and William Lowe, who played alongside the MSO’s veterans this season.

Theplanned program closed with a performance of the well-known classical piece, Bolero, written by French composer Maurice Ravel and first performed in Paris in 1928. Bolero also offers a distinct musical theme that repeats and is reinterpreted by each section of the orchestra, steadily and relentlessly building up to its crashing finish.

Walwyn returned to the stage for the encore, "Stars and Stripes Forever." Udagawa offered Walwyn the baton, and the evening came to a fulfilling close. While this orchestra season has concluded, Melrose orchestra fans will eagerly await next season's first concert in November.

Posted May 5th, 2025