Mukilteo Community Orchestra opens 2026-27 season with ‘Breakthroughs’

The Mukilteo Community Orchestra (MCO) opens its 2026-27 season at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Rosehill Community Center, 304 Lincoln Ave., in Mukilteo.

The free concert, “Breakthroughs,” will feature four pieces: “Overture in C Major” by Fanny Hensel (Mendelssohn); “Symphony No. 2, Movement II: Scherzo” by Emilie Mayer; “On the Cliffs of Cornwall” by Ethel Smyth; and “Umoja: Anthem for Unity” by Valerie Coleman. The concert also will feature a special opening performance by the MCO Holiday Horns.

“Long hidden from the concert stage, this compelling music is, at last, breaking through in the orchestra’s performance of these pieces,” said Christopher Vongvithayamathakul, conductor and artistic director. “We are very excited to feature these composers in our first performance of the season.”

The concert will open with “Overture in C Major” by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. The overture focuses entirely on the orchestra. Written in the early Romantic period style, it has no background story or visual intention. It is considered “absolute music,” representing the composer’s unique style. Hensel’s ability to blend harmonic language and rhythm is evident in lyrical wind solos and lush string writing.

The overture was never published during Hensel’s lifetime and remained neglected in the Mendelssohn Archive long after her death. The Women’s Philharmonic of San Francisco negotiated its release, reconstructed the heavily revised score, written in Hensel’s own hand, and recorded it for a 1992 CD featuring music by female composers. Today, Hensel is recognized as a highly regarded composer who created brilliant music despite the limitations of her time.

The second piece is “Symphony No. 2, Movement II: Scherzo” by Emilie Luise Friderica Mayer. A trailblazer of the 19th century, Mayer pursued composition as a full-time profession at a time when women were largely excluded from public life. She composed eight symphonies, chamber works, piano sonatas and orchestral overtures, earning wide recognition and frequent public performances. She is recognized as a significant female composer of the Romantic era.

The next piece is “On the Cliffs of Cornwall,” the prelude to Act II of Ethel Smyth’s opera “The Wreckers.” Drawn to the extravagant art form of opera, Smyth wrote six operas during her career.

Written in 1904, “The Wreckers” is based on an English story inspired by the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall. The three-act work depicts a small harbor community whose residents dutifully attend church while the men also plunder ships approaching from the sea. Conflict erupts when someone is discovered warning the ships of impending destruction.

The drama unfolds between two potential whistleblowers, both of whom are in love with one of the other’s wives. The opera ends tragically, with the unfaithful lovers chained together and trapped in a barren cave as the tide rises. They face a watery death in each other’s arms. The prelude captures the picaresque and majestic energy of seafaring England.

The concert will conclude with “Umoja: Anthem for Unity” by Valerie Coleman. Born in 1970, Coleman is a flutist and composer who became the first African American woman to receive a commission from the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2019, resulting in “Umoja: Anthem of Unity.”

In 2020, The Washington Post recognized Coleman among its “Top 35 Women Composers.” _Umoja_ is the Swahili word for unity and the first principle of the African American holiday Kwanzaa. The piece embodies a sense of “tribal unity” through traditional drums, call-and-response patterns and repetition of a sing-song melody.

Two decades later, the orchestral version expands on the short, sweet melody with greater sophistication and sounds reminiscent of Appalachian music. The piece explores a variety of orchestral textures before ending with a bold call for unity, encouraging listeners to embrace kindness and togetherness.

For more information about concerts and to follow the orchestra, visit mukilteoorchestra.org or Instagram at @mukilteocommunityorchestra.