BREMERTON — The Bremerton Symphony Association’s season finale, “That 70 Show,” is May 11, 7:30 p.m. in the Bremerton Performing Arts Center. Doors open at 6 p.m. A pre-concert chat is at 6:30 p.m. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $24 for adults, $19 for seniors and military, and $8 for youth and students. Purchase tickets at the door or in advance by calling (360) 373-1722.

The concert is the finale of the symphony orchestra’s 70th season, and the number 70 will be celebrated with a selection of “70s” music for orchestra, chorus and soloists.

Selections include Haydn’s Symphony No. 70 and the opening of Bach’s Cantata No. 70. Saint-Saëns’ Opus 70 features pianist and concerto competition winner Mya King, student of Dr. Irene Bowling. Also featured is soprano Yoshiko Yamamoto in Mozart’s K. 70, excerpts from Dvorák’s Symphony No. 7 and Opus 70, plus three choruses from Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Opus 70.

The planned encore is an excerpt from Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.”

“It gives me great pleasure to stand at the helm of the Bremerton Symphony on the historic occasion of our 70th anniversary concert,” conductor Alan Futterman wrote.

“We have assembled a compendium of works for orchestra, all with the number 70, from its inception as a collegium under J.S. Bach, up to the vigorous, rhythmic 20th Century work of Igor Stravinsky.”

According to Futterman, the symphony orchestra will recognize those who have performed with it over the decades.

King, one of the youngest soloists ever featured in a subscription concert, will make her official symphony debut this evening.

“In recent years, all of our winning pianists have come from the Bowling Studio,” Futterman wrote. “Mya will perform Camille Saint-Saëns’ Allegro appassionato Opus 70, a brilliant and elegant French piano work.”

Yoshiko Yamamoto returns to the front of the stage to present a concert rarity, Mozart’s youthful aria “A Berenice” K. 70. Several years ago, Yamamoto sang the part of Turandot, her high soprano ringing out above the orchestra in the “Night at the Opera” concert.

The symphony orchestra will also offer three purely orchestral works from three different centuries.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 70 is scholarly and entertaining. For the Ezterhazy palace, Haydn provided a simple Minuet for those who might want to dance — and some dashing intricate fugues for the prince and his music aficionados.

Dvorák’s New World Symphony has long been a concert favorite but musicians have always considered Symphony No. 7, Opus 70, to be Dvorák’s greatest work, according to Futterman.

“This is a superb blending of delightful melodies from traditional Czech dances with the driving rhythmic force of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.”

After a concert of classical works, all with the number 70, the orchestra will confront what Futterman considers the most important work of the 20th century, Stravinsky’s “Le sacre du printemps” or “The Rite of Spring,” which premiered 100 years ago, in May 1913.

“Saturday’s performance of this excerpt, bursting with raw rhythmic energy from ‘Le sacre,’ will be a milestone for our orchestra and a crowning achievement for our 70th anniversary,” Futterman wrote.

About the guest performers
Mya King, a 13-year-old home-school student from Silverdale, has studied piano for seven years, the last six of which have been with Dr. Irene Bowling.

King is the 2013 representative for the West Sound chapter of the Washington State Music Teachers Association. She received first place in the Western European division at the 2013 Romantic Festival of the Seattle International Piano Festival. She received Outstanding Achievement awards at the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Seattle Young Artist Music Festivals.

King made her solo debut with the Bremerton Symphony in 2011. She attends Peninsula Bible Fellowship in Silverdale and swims with the Poulsbo Piranha Swim Team. She is the winner of the 2013 Bremerton Symphony concerto competition.

Yoshiko Yamamoto was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, and came to the United States in 1990 to study modern Japanese/American history and music at University of California, Berkeley. While there, she sang with the U.C. Chamber Chorus and the Philharmonia Baroque.

Twelve years ago, she and her family moved to Washington state; she is a traditional block print artist with a studio in Port Orchard.

She studies voice with LeeAnne Campos and has been a member of the Bremerton Symphony Concert Chorale since 2010.