2025-2026 Season

The Oregon East Symphony is pleased to announce its 40th Concert Season! Who would've thought that a tiny community orchestra in the middle of the wheatfields of Umatilla County would blossom into a regional professional symphony attracting musical talent from the immediate area, across the Pacific Northwest and from around the globe? Even more impressive has been our integration of classical strings education activities for rural youth into our programming. Join us in celebrating a landmark season.

Season Tickets for the 2025-2026 Season are now available online and at the Oregon East Symphony Office!

Fall Concert

2:30pm, Sunday, November 9th, 2025 | Vert Auditorium (480 SW Dorion Ave, Pendleton, OR)

OES Conductor and Artistic Director Beau Benson kicks off our 40th Season with a performance of Pendleton-born Hollywood composer Chris Thomas's Malheur Symphony. Originally commissioned by the Bowerman family in the wake of the Malheur Refuge Standoff, Malheur Symphony is a tone poem depicting the avian wildlife over the course of a day on the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon. Also to be presented is Richard Strauss's tone poem Don Juan, based on poet Nikolaus Lenue's play about the fictional Spanish libertine.

Holiday Music Festival

6:30pm, Saturday, December 13th, 2025 | Hermiston High Auditorium (600 S 1st St, Hermiston, OR)

2:30pm, Sunday, December 14th 2025 | Vert Auditorium (480 SW Dorion Ave, Pendleton, OR)

Guest Conductor Zach Banks joins OES to conduct the holiday favorite, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. The OES Chorale will join the Symphony in presenting Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols with guest baritone soloist Gabriel Elder.

Spring Concert

2:30pm, Sunday, March 8th 2026 | Vert Auditorium (480 SW Dorion Ave, Pendleton, OR)

Dr. Benson conducts Ravel's Mother Goose Suite from his ballet based on French fairy-tales from the Mother Goose Collection. To feature some of the talent within the symphony, OES Principal Trombone John Neurohr will perform a trombone concerto. The program is rounded out with Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 104 (London).

Chamber Music Festival

6:30pm, Saturday, April 11th, 2026 | Vert Clubroom (345 SW 4th St, Pendleton, OR)

OES welcomes composer and pianist Connor Chee as the featured guest performer for the Chamber Music Festival, OES's annual pairing on wine and hors d'ouvres with chamber music. In addition to performing a selection of his original compositions, the Navajo (Diné) composer, author and educator will present a series of lectures in the Pendleton area on indigenous identity in classical music. Additional performances include Paul Reade's Suite from the Victorian Kitchen Garden, Schubert's String Quintet in C Major and more to be announced.

Summer Concert

2:30pm, Sunday, June 7th 2026 | Vert Auditorium (480 SW Dorion Ave, Pendleton, OR)

Our 40th Season concludes with the 1946 revision of Stravinsky's ballet suite Petrushka. A second performance this season featuring soloists from the ranks of the orchestra will be Assistant Concertmaster Viet Block and oboist Lauren Nebel's performance of Bach's Concerto for Violin and Oboe. Oregon composer (and occasional OES contra-bassoonist) Nicole Buetti's Odyssey Overture will round out the program.