Date/Time
Date(s) - 06/13/2026
7:00 pm
Location
Urbana High School
Categories
- Beautiful and fun music that celebrates American landscapes
- Urbana Mayor DeShawn Williams will narrate Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait”
- High school senior Jason Yan will play a cello concerto with UPO
- Urbana Park District cast of Frozen
- Printed program in Spanish will be available
Urbana Arts & Culture and Urbana Pops Orchestra invite the community to a free concert. From Sea to Shining Symphony will be held in the auditorium at Urbana High School at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 13 – with music that celebrates the landscapes of our country from to coast to coast. The concert is under 90 minutes, so perfect for a child’s first orchestra concert.
“Pops orchestras often play selections from film scores, so we’ll open with “Silverado” from the film of the same title,” said UPO Conductor Stephen Larson. “Leroy Anderson’s “Old MacDonald” will feature some unusual percussion instruments and “Adagio for a Tee-Ball Dropout” is a nod to America’s favorite pastime.”
Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” in honor of the nation’s 250th includes familiar tunes from the southern states woven together with excerpts from some of Abraham Lincoln’s lesser-known speeches.
“The narrator for this piece is often an actor, poet or celebrity. We are thrilled to have Urbana Mayor DeShawn Williams reading Lincoln’s words,” Larson said.
Also featured will be the winner of the Chambana International Music Competition, concerto division. This year, local high school student and cellist Jason Yan will play “Hungarian Rhapsody” by David Popper with the orchestra.
And the cast of Urbana Park District’s Youth Summer Theatre production will perform “Let it Go” from the musical Frozen.
Because the auditorium is on the second floor of the high school, entry through Door #1 on Iowa Street will allow for easy access to elevators.
Urbana Pops Orchestra has been offering free concerts, recitals, and educational opportunities in Champaign-Urbana since 2010. The ensemble’s goals are to perform high-quality light classical and pops repertoire for free and to provide a setting for talented youth musicians to learn from seasoned professionals.
UPO is affiliated with the Urbana Park District and Urbana School District #116. For more information, visit www.UrbanaPops.org.
UPO acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Urbana Arts & Culture, the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois and many generous donors
Please remember that events may be canceled or rescheduled last minute due to unpredictable weather or other factors. We encourage you to reach out to event organizers before heading out to an event to verify it is still happening.
