BRO’s 25th Anniversary Season Finale, May 2025
Dr. Emily Mariko Eng, Music Director
BRO’s 25th Anniversary Season Finale
The Blue Ridge Orchestra celebrated 25 years of symphonic excellence with our thrilling season finale under the leadership of Music Director Dr. Emily Mariko Eng.
Our 25th Anniversary Season Finale, part of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra’s bi-annual festival: “The Art of Storytelling,” spanned genres of jazz and classical in a highly collaborative program. Two exciting works by Leonard Bernstein - Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs and Symphonic Dances from West Side Story - bookended a beautiful, lyrical piece for jazz quartet and orchestra, Mom by Asheville-based composer Richard Shulman. The program concluded with the glorious Beethoven Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral.”
Blue Ridge Orchestra’s Music Director Dr. Emily Mariko Eng spoke of the program: “When I planned this music a year ago, I couldn’t have imagined the poeticism in concluding our season with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the Pastoral. It is one of his few programmatic works, and it tells a story of the beauty of nature, but also the destruction it can cause and the feelings following such devastation. We will end our season on a hopeful, joyous note following the storm, represented musically but also embodied emotionally.”
Deb Kenney, Board President expressed enthusiasm for the BRO’s success in its silver anniversary– The Blue Ridge Orchestra is celebrating its 25th Anniversary Season Finale with an exciting program created by Music Director, Dr. Emily Mariko Eng! The versatility of our musicians will be on display with works ranging from the full orchestra to jazz ensemble. Based in Asheville, NC, we are proud to be Western North Carolina’s volunteer community orchestra, and thrilled that some of our musicians for this concert performed in the very first BRO concert, 25 years ago……having performed continuously throughout those 25 years! The Blue Ridge Orchestra is truly of the community, for the community, and succeeds to this day only by this community’s support. We thank this amazing artistic community for our opportunity to perform for you.
BRO’s Season Finale was generously sponsored by Ingles Markets.
Friday, May 2nd, 2025, 7:00 pm
Sunday, May 4th, 2025, 3:00 pm
UNC Asheville
Lipinsky Auditorium
300 Library Lane
Asheville, NC. 28804
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“All I could say to the first musician I spoke with after Friday’s performance were…… ‘JUST… WOW!’” - Deb Kenney, BRO President
This weekend’s 25th Anniversary Season Finale concerts were a musical feast for the soul!
Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate 25 years of music in the Blue Ridge Mountains!
Here’s what some of our patrons shared on exiting the concerts:
“A Tour de Force”
*looking as if she had an epiphany, grabbing my arm* “AMAZING, JUST AMAZING.”
*literally eyes wide with delight….* (That’s all they needed to “say”…..)
This was a tribute to the 25 years of the BRO we will always remember with pride.
Thank you to our supporters, sponsors, and partners who helped make it happen.
And thank you to @asheville.elevated.photography for capturing these moments on stage!
This concert was part of the #AshevilleAmadeus festival (@avlsymphony) and generously sponsored by Ingles Markets (@inglesmarkets).
Photo Credit: Asheville Elevated Photography
