STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Wood River Orchestra will play a variety of well-known, sprightly music selections at its Spring Concert this weekend.

The free concert will start at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 21 (not Sunday as in the past) at the Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater at the Community Campus in Hailey.

The musical menu includes Jacques Offenbach’s “Overture from Orpheus in the Underworld,” an opera that features easily recognizable can-can music and lovely clarinet and violin solos.

Other pieces include Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours,” Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity,” Georges Bizet’s “Farandole” from “L’Arlesienne Suite No. 2,” and Camille Saint-Saens’ “Bacchanale” from the opera “Samson and Delilah.”

“Each of these pieces contains music almost every listener has heard in some form,” said Lynne Heidel, the orchestra’s board president “The music is a joy to listen to and a lot of fun to play.”

Conductor Brad Hershey said the program not only celebrates classical music but also the return of live music to the concert hall.

“The music we will perform is as much fun for our musicians as it will be for the audience. Several tunes are likely to inspire a little toe tapping and at times it may be difficult not to hum along with the music,” he added.

The Wood River Orchestra was founded 15 years ago in 2007 to enrich the lives of area residents by providing opportunities to perform and enjoy orchestral music and to provide audiences with  opportunities to hear live classical music.

It performs three main concerts each year, and smaller groups of orchestra members perform at community events across the Wood River Valley.

The orchestra relies on the donations of community members to purchase sheet music, repair instruments and pay its music director. To that end it will perform tits annual Picnic n’ Pops concert honoring the orchestra founder Sue Mendelsohn at 4 p.m. Sunday, June 19.

Want to know more? Visit https://www.wrcorchestra.org/