LW Orchestra

The Leisure World Orchestra will begin rehearsals next week to prepare the 34 works it plans to perform during its 60th anniversary season.

Orchestra conductor Linda DeRungs will start rehearsing the group’s returning and new members on challenging classical music, opera, musical theater and ballet works. The Sept. 9 and Sept. 10 rehearsals mark DeRungs’ first full season with the group, which began in April 1966.

In honor of the group’s 60 years, the orchestra will add a spring concert in March, with works from the American songbook, Latin dances, and selections composed by Rimsky-Korsakov and Mozart.

The orchestra’s Dec. 13 holiday program features Tschaikovsky’s “Nutcracker,” Victor Herbert’s “Babes in Toyland,” Handel’s “Messiah,” and “Sleigh Ride” by Prokofiev. The group’s season-ending concert in June will showcase marches, opera arias and two settings of a traditional Korean folk song called “Arirang.”

After the overwhelming response to LW resident Yuri Lotakov’s piano concerto last season, DeRungs has scheduled more guest artists to front the orchestra. In June, Lotakov will perform Rachmaninoff’s famous “Piano Concerto No. 2.” Other soloists are former Los Angeles Opera concertmaster Armen Anassian, opera soprano Carol Winston, and players from the orchestra itself.

The LW Orchestra welcomes musicians of all levels, including those who abandoned their musical studies years ago but wish to refresh their skills. The orchestra has a pressing need for additional French horns, wind and string players.

The orchestra rehearses Tuesdays and Wednesdays from noon-2:15 p.m. on the Amphitheater stage. Prospective orchestra members who want more information can contact DeRungs at lwlindaderungs@gmail.com.

—William Thompson