The Redlands Community Orchestra Plays Beethoven and Premieres an Original Composition

The Redlands Community Orchestra opens its season with a concert at 3pm November 15 at Redlands High School’s Clock Auditorium. The orchestra will present the world premiere of a new piece for orchestra, Scenes from the Odyssey, by orchestra member Robert Winokur. The performance will also include Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. The concert will be conducted by James Benanti and is free of charge and family friendly. No tickets are necessary. The Redlands Community Orchestra was founded in September 2013 as an outlet for amateur musicians in the Redlands area to play orchestral music together for fun. It is an independent, all-volunteer nonprofit community organization which seeks to share the joy of music-making with its members and its audience. Approximately 60 musicians of all ages will play string, woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments in the concert. Robert Winokur's Scenes from the Odyssey will be performed as part of the RCO Composition Project, an initiative to foster the creation of new orchestral music. Scenes from the Odyssey is a musical tone poem inspired by Homer’s The Odyssey. Robert Winokur’s music has been featured in documentaries, video games, on PBS, and in concert halls around the country. While primarily a composer of instrumental concert music, Robert has also written for jazz big band and combo groups, bluegrass groups, mixed-media and laptop-driven performing groups, and various chamber ensembles. He received his PhD in music composition in 2011, and he currently teaches music theory and music history and at Mt San Jacinto College and Crafton Hills College. He is also the music director of a jazz group he founded, the Little Mountain Big Band. He plays bass and percussion in the Redlands Community Orchestra. The concert is sponsored by the Redlands High School Instrumental Music Department. More information about the Redlands Community Orchestra is available online at www.redlandscommunityorchestra.org.