Masterworks 2

Billy The Kid

Masterworks 2

Billy the Kid

This concert features American composer Aaron Copland with his dramatic musical story of legendary outlaw Billy the Kid. Copland’s brilliant score takes us through scenes of wagons, a frontier town, a nighttime card game, and even a gun battle from the American West. The concert opens with American composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s Three Latin American Dances for Orchestra, a work depicting rhythms and dances of regions in South America. In addition to featuring our two Young Artist Audition winners, JJ Tiefenbach, cello, and Erin Elizabeth Van Mol, soprano, we will also collaborate with the Butte MTAC Youth Orchestra and the Shasta College Chamber Strings in a side-by-side performance of Alexander Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances with its flurry of energetic winds and percussion showcasing this sparkling, rhythm-driven dance.

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January 31, 2026 | Laxson Auditorium, Chico | 7:30 pm February 1, 2026 | Cascade Theatre, Redding | 2 pm

Featured Artists

Erin Elizabeth Van Mol, soprano | Young Artist Audition Winner

JJ Tiefenbach, cello | Young Artist Audition Winner

Butte MTAC Youth Orchestra | Yoshie Muratani, Director

Shasta College Chamber Strings | Jeff Specht, Director

Program

FRANK Three Latin American Dances

BOCCHERINI Cello Concerto in B-flat major, Adagio

GOUNOD Je veux vivre from Romeo and Juliet

BORODIN Polovtsian Dances

COPLAND Suite from Billy the Kid

Butte MTAC Youth Orchestra

Yoshie Muratani, Director

The Butte MTAC (Music Teachers Association of California) Youth Orchestra was founded in 2009 thanks to the generous donation from Walter and Dawn Kusumoto. Their vision is to provide young musicians the experience of being a part of something much bigger than what one person can create, helping foster the lifelong enjoyment of music, while also learning essential skills of collaboration, responsibility, creativity, and flexibility.

Shasta College Chamber Strings

Dr. Jeff Specht, Music Director

The Shasta College Concert Orchestra & Chamber Strings is comprised of some of the top young musicians in the region, serving Shasta County and the surrounding areas. The ensemble performs a variety of musical styles including standard, modern, and jazz orchestral literature and is open to musicians of all ages of intermediate and advanced skill levels.