Seattle Festival Orchestra

Seattle Festival Orchestra is a volunteer community orchestra that presents concerts to delight and engage a 21st century audience. With diverse programming, SFO creates space for its audience to experience the catharsis of the wide range of emotions available in orchestra music, to feel with our musicians the joy and sorrow, wonder and ecstasy of our art. In order to create an engrossing concert experience, SFO consistently breaks down barriers between performer and audience and seeks out opportunities for audience engagement. SFO believes strongly in universal access to the arts, providing family- friendly concerts for kids, young soloists and a side-by-side performance opportunity for local high school students.

Schedule of Events:

"Escape expresses going through something hard and then escaping into the world, nature and being free again."  - Brannon Warn-Johnston

Dr. Yuchi Chou leads the orchestra in its season opener, Escape, featuring two works by Seattle composer and violinist Brannon Warn-Johnston. With a theme of beauty and struggle, this concert takes the audience on a journey into the wilderness, where Warn-Johnston goes backpacking with her violin and staff paper, to experience scorching heat, cool waters and hope. Completing the program is SFO's own Liam Frye-Mason playing the beautiful and melodic Cello Concerto by Kurt Atterberg, followed by Sibelius's triumphant Symphony No 2.