The Midcoast Symphony Orchestra (MSO) continues its More with Midcoast program with a pair of performances by youth musicians in March.

These young musicians will showcase their talent in conjunction with the Brunswick-based orchestras next concert, “A New Artistic Mélange,” which will be performed at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 23, at the Franco Center in Lewiston; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 24, at the Orion Performing Arts Center in Topsham.

The Franco Center concert will feature pianist Michael Bostock, a Waynflete School senior, performing five pieces in the Heritage Hall on the ground floor of the venue during intermission of the concert, while 14 musicians of the Maine Youth Orchestra will play five pieces in the lobby of the Orion before the concert, beginning at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, March 23.  Both events are included with tickets to the concerts, which are conducted by guest artist Jinwook Park, the music director of the Colby Symphony Orchestra and the Augusta Symphony Orchestra, and include Jessie Montgomery’s “Hymn for Everyone,” Mozart’s “Prague” Symphony No. 38, and “Enigma Variations,” by Edward Elgar.

Complete concert and ticket information is available at midcoastsymphony.org. Individual tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. All concert tickets are free for students aged 18 and under, or for college students with identification. Audiences are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance online or by calling the box office at (207) 481-0790.

Bostock studies classical piano under Naydene Bowder at the Portland Conservatory of Music and has been playing piano since 2012. Michael is the full-time pianist for Raymond Village Community Church in Raymond and the First Congregational Church in Gray. He has been the pianist for the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra (PYSO) for the past two years, has played in the Portland Conservatory of Music’s Noonday Concert Series and performs at the Marston-Kotzschmar and Rossini music clubs.

In February 2024, Michael won first place in Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s 43rd Annual Maine High School Concerto Competition and will be the featured soloist with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra in the Young People’s Concerts May 13.

The Maine Youth Orchestra (MYO) was founded in 1972 as the Brunswick Regional Youth Orchestra with the help of the late Professor Robert Beckwith of Bowdoin College and an initial grant from the Maine State Commission for the Arts and Humanities. The orchestra is one of the oldest continuous youth orchestras in the state and is the only organization which offers each senior student a chance at playing a concerto.

MYO is conducted by Ben David Richmond and in the past has collaborated with the Greely Madrigal Singers, the Island Beats Steel Drum Band, French the Curva Via and the Vocal Ensemble Tous on Scene with Director Laurent Brack from Paris France, the North Yarmouth Academy Chorus, the Augusta Symphony Orchestra just to name a few.

Richmond includes as many genres of music as possible from pop/rock to classical in the MYO repertoire. Selections on the March 24 will include “Habanera” from “Carmen” by Georges Bizet, “Brandenburg Sinfonia” by J. S. Bach, “Legend” by P.I. Tchaikowsky and American folk tunes “Swallowtail Jig” and “Ash Grove.”

The Midcoast Symphony Orchestra is a community orchestra founded in 1990. Started as a chamber orchestra, there are now more than 80 members.

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