Old Post Road Orchestra

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Wilbraham, MA
Old Post Road Orchestra

Our mission is to provide quality symphonic music at convenient locations in and around Western Mass

Old Post Road Orchestra does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, s*xual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. Harassment based upon an individual’s s*x, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion or any other legally protected characteristics will not be tolerated. As nonprofits, our entire reason for being is to make society better by our missions and deeds. We have a responsibility to advance an equitable society, to shine a bright light on the harsh reality of systematic racism and injustice and to actively work against it.

11/23/2025

Please join us for our Holiday Performances!!

Two opportunities:
December 5th - 7:30 PM
St. Cecilia's Church
42 Main Street, Wilbraham MA
This concert is sponsored in part by Berkshire Facial Surgery INc.

December 14th - 2:00 PM
Mary, Mother of Hope Church
840 Page Blvd, Springfield MA
This concert is sponsored in part by RMG Wealth Management Group and
the Spingfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

10/24/2025

We're ready - are you??

JOIN US TONIGHT at 7:30pm for the opening of our 40th Year Celebration!

Bailamos! - Music from Spain and Latin America

Directed by Alexandria Black

Minnechaug Regional High School, 621 Main Street, Wilbraham MA
We hope to see you there!

10/23/2025

Suite No.2 from El sombrero de tres picos (1917)
Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)

Manuel de Falla was one of the most important Spanish musicians of the first half of the 20th century and wrote works in a variety of genres, including the lyric-dramatic zarzuela and puppet opera. In 1907, he moved to Paris and met a number of influential composers and artists, from Maurice Ravel to Claude Debussy, as well as Igor Stravinsky and the impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Moving back to Spain at the beginning of World War I with these connections allowed him to explore his own writing and the nation of Spain’s classical music output. Along with pianist-composers Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados, Falla helped to restore Spanish music to a level it had not enjoyed since Renaissance times.
Together with Sergei Diaghilev and their set and costume designer, Pablo Picasso, the three began their journey of a ballet adaptation of the 1874 comic novella El sombrero tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat). The narrative follows the traditional characters of a jealous miller, his beautiful young wife, and a salacious local magistrate and his attempts to seduce the wife. This only leads to the magistrate taking off his clothes before laying in the miller’s bed, the miller finding the magistrate’s clothes and going off to seduce the magistrate’s wife. Now awake without clothes, the magistrate wears the miller’s clothes and mistakenly gets arrested by his men thinking he’s the miller.

Suite No. 2 includes three numbers from the ballet: “The Neighbour’s Dance (Seguidillas),” “The Miller’s Dance (Farruca)” and “Final Dance (Jota).” Falla’s vibrant score breathes the passion and exuberance of Spanish music, with arresting melodies and foot-tapping (sometimes foot-stomping) rhythms.
(Program Notes by Alexandria Black.)

Come see us Friday night at 7:30 pm

Minnechaug Regional High School
621 Main Street, Wilbraham, MA

10/23/2025

Baile de las Mariposas from Iguazu for Orchestra (2024)
Nicholas Repetto (b. 1979)

Argentinian-American composer and publisher Nicholas Repetto was inspired by a trip to Iguazu National Park during his honeymoon with his husband in 2018. “Iguazu Falls borders Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay and is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. We visited the Brazilian and Argentinian sides to get various perspectives and splendid views of the waterfalls. When we first arrived, the place struck me as magical. It contained this wonderful energy, fresh clean air that brought vitality back into my beings, and a wide array of amazing and powerful waterfalls.” writes Repetto on his website.

“I originally wrote a smaller work called Escenas del Iguazu as a commission back in 2022. After the premiere, I was ready to shelve my work when Bruce Kiesling, my friend, colleague, and music director of the Sequoia Symphony asked me to expand the work… With Bruce’s encouragement, he commissioned me to expand my original ideas for the 2023 California Reflections Program. I discovered new motivic, thematic, and orchestrational elements. Out of this exploration, Iguazu was born. From this, I extrapolated the third movement as a standalone work that can work well in all types of orchestral programming[…]”

“Throughout the Iguazu Falls National Park there are many colorful species of butterflies. This particular scene was inspired by a kaleidoscope of butterflies flying around and landing to sip some nectar from the many flora.”
(Program Notes by Alexandria Black.)

Come see us Friday night at 7:30 pm

Minnechaug Regional High School
621 Main Street, Wilbraham, MA

10/22/2025

Milonga del Angel (1965)- Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), arr. J. Palmer

Argentinian composer and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla revolutionized traditional dance genres into new styles that incorporated elements from jazz and classical music, such as the widely nuevo tango. The artist was inspired to make music after his family’s immigration to New York City and being gifted a bandoneon at a young age, which led to his experimentations with traditional Argentinian dances. At 16, Piazzolla moved to Buenos Aires and began taking composition lessons with one of the most important 20th century classical composers Alberto Ginastera, who exposed him to works by Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, and more. These formative years led to a fruitful shift in focus from performing to writing, and eventually won a grant from the French government to study with composition teacher Nadia Boulanger.

Following his time in Paris, Piazzolla moved back to Argentina and began writing in this new tango style riddled with jazz-like solos and classical forms. In 1965, he released El Tango, an album featuring his controversial Angel series written as nuevo tango. “Milonga del Angel” is the first of the series, and displays a great deal of harmonic sophistication that is not typically found in tango while remaining highly lyrical through the use of heavy chromaticism. This passionate piece was recorded by Piazzolla and his Quinteto Nuevo Tango for his 1986 album Tango: Zero Hour, which he considered his greatest.
(Program Notes by Alexandria Black.)

Come see us on Friday night at 7:30 pm!!
Minnechaug Regional High School
621 Main Street, Wilbraham MA

10/22/2025

While a native of Boston, musician Leonard Bernstein had a life-long fascination with New York City. He went on to serve as a music director and conductor of the New York Philharmonic for many years, and used the city as the backdrop for many of his own works. In the late 1940s, he was introduced to the idea of an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in New York by choreographer Jerome Robbins, however the story of the Capulets and Montagues would instead be one about New York Jews and Catholics set on the east side of New York. The idea eventually evolved over a few years into a gang feud between white New Yorkers and Puerto Ricans on New York’s west side. Together with lyricist Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story was premiered on Broadway in 1957 and ran for nearly 2 years. After its 732 performances and 6 Tony awards, the musical was made into a movie and took home 10 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Bernstein was known for including quotes from other composers in his music and West Side Story is no exception, such as the (then) timely inclusion of a 12-tone fugue written by Austrian composer Alban Berg in the song “Cool” and Beethoven’s Emperor concerto in other songs. Non-classical elements also influenced Bernstein greatly, including the use of jazz combos juxtaposing the orchestra and experimentation of meters to replicate the rhythm color of Latin American music. A clear example appears in the use of a mixed meter presented in an unusual way during the huapango dance pattern in “America”, a traditional Mexican folk dance for couples often performed on wooden platforms to accentuate their accented heel-and-toe footwork. Mason’s arrangement of West Side Story also includes the songs “I Feel Pretty”, “Maria”, “Something’s Coming”, “Tonight”, and “One Hand, One Heart.”
(Program Notes by Alexandria Black.)

Come see us on Friday night at 7:30 pm!!

Minnechaug Regional High School
621 Main Street, Wilbraham MA

10/21/2025

Danzas Cubanas, op. 141 (2010)- (b. 1954)

American composer, educator, and publisher Robert Sheldon has not only received countless accolades for his concert band and orchestral works, but is also widely considered one of the most performed composers of concert band music in the world. His experiences as a public educator allowed him to connect with fellow musicians from around the world, especially during his time as a band director in Palm Beach County Florida in the 1970s. Fellow Floridian public school band director Ubaldo Montesino (1955-2001) and Sheldon became close colleagues, with Sheldon stating on his website “he had a wicked sense of humor and was one of the nicest people anyone could have the privilege of knowing.” Montesino was regarded as a top trumpet player in the area and was also the cousin of Gloria Estefan, almost joining her band “The Miami Sound Machine”.

After Montesino passed, the Palm Beach County Directors Association commissioned Sheldon to write and perform a piece in Montesino’s honor. Created as a set of three original dance-like movements celebrating the joy and energy of Afro-Cuban music and people of the island’s nation, Danzas Cubanas sets the mood with an opening conga driven primarily by intense percussion and chromatic orchestration before transitioning to a gentle salsa and ending with a fast-paced mambo.

(Program Notes by Alexandria Black.)

Come see us on Friday night at 7:30 pm!!

Minnechaug Regional High School
621 Main Street, Wilbraham MA

10/21/2025

This week's concert is sponsored in part by Country Bank.

Join us on Friday at 7:30 pm.

Minnechaug Regional High School
621 Main Street, Wilbraham MA

10/21/2025

We're ready - are you??

Join us on Friday, October 24, 2025 at 7:30pm for the opening of our 40th Year Celebration!

Bailamos! - Music from Spain and Latin America
Directed by Alexandria Black
Minnechaug Regional High School, 621 Main Street, Wilbraham MA

We hope to see you there!

09/06/2025

Join us on Friday, October 24, 2025 at 7:30pm for the opening of our 40th Year Celebration!

Bailamos! - Music from Spain and Latin America
Directed by Alexandria Black
Minnechaug Regional High School, 621 Main Street, Wilbraham MA

We hope to see you there!

08/18/2025

The Old Post Road Orchestra will launch its 40th Season with a concert at Minnechaug Regional High School on October 24th. Rehearsals begin on Wednesday, August 27th. New string and percussion players with orchestral experience are welcome to join. Please send inquiries to OPROwilb@gmail.com.

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Wilbraham, MA
01095

Website

http://www.opro.org/

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