Southern Oregon’s summer arts calendar will carry a distinctly American soundtrack into Medford this weekend as the Rogue Valley Symphony opens its 60th season with Americana Pops, a two-performance celebration spanning orchestral tradition, jazz, popular music and some of the most recognizable voices in the American musical repertoire.
The concerts will be presented Saturday, August 22, and Sunday, August 23, at 3 p.m. at the Craterian Theater in Medford. Pianist Llewellyn Sánchez-Werner joins the orchestra as the featured guest artist for a program designed to launch what the Rogue Valley Symphony has named its Diamond Season, marking six decades of performances and musical programming across Southern Oregon.
Americana Pops reaches well beyond the conventions of a traditional classical concert. The program moves through different periods and personalities in American music, bringing together compositions associated with the concert hall, jazz, popular entertainment and ceremonial music. Works connected to George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Louis Moreau Gottschalk share the program with music by Peter Boyer, Ron Nelson, Morton Gould and Parmer Fuller.
Sánchez-Werner will take a prominent role throughout the afternoon, performing Gottschalk’s The Union, Ellington’s New World A-Coming and Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm Variations. The orchestra will also perform Boyer’s New Beginnings, Nelson’s Savannah River Holiday and Gould’s American Salute, along with Duke Ellington Fantasy and Satchmo!, an orchestral tribute to Louis Armstrong. Parmer Fuller’s The RVS Parade and Martin’s March add another dimension to a program built around the breadth of American musical traditions.
The timing gives the performances an additional historical backdrop. The United States is observing its 250th anniversary in 2026, placing a concert centered on American composers, musical traditions and cultural influences within a year of nationwide commemorations surrounding the country’s semiquincentennial. The Rogue Valley Symphony’s presentation is primarily identified as the opening celebration of its Diamond Season, with the American repertoire providing the musical foundation for the occasion.
For the orchestra itself, the weekend also connects its present-day stage to nearly six decades of Southern Oregon history. The Rogue Valley Symphony traces its beginnings to 1967, when Frederick Palmer, then an assistant professor of music at Southern Oregon College, organized the orchestra. Its first concert was performed November 16, 1967, in the Medford Mid-High School auditorium with approximately 55 musicians and a first-year budget of about $4,500.
What began with that relatively modest regional ensemble developed into a professional orchestra serving communities throughout the Rogue Valley. The organization now presents performances in Ashland, Medford and Grants Pass while maintaining educational and community programs intended to introduce orchestral music to younger audiences and broaden access to live performance.
Music Director Martin Majkut has led the Rogue Valley Symphony since 2010, a period that has included expanded concert programming, visiting soloists and educational efforts including Link Up, Classical Coaches and Musical Mentors. The orchestra enters its Diamond Season with a schedule that continues that regional approach rather than concentrating the anniversary exclusively in one city.
Residents who cannot attend this weekend’s Medford performances will have additional opportunities to hear the orchestra as the regular Masterworks season gets underway in September. Masterworks 1 will feature Charles Ives’ Central Park in the Dark, Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with pianist George Li, and Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Performances are scheduled September 18 and 19 in Ashland, followed by a September 20 performance at 3 p.m. in Grants Pass.
The anniversary season will continue through spring 2027 with six Masterworks programs and additional performances. Beethoven will hold a significant place in the season as the orchestra approaches the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death in 1827, with his music appearing in half of the season’s concerts.
That broader calendar will bring the Symphony repeatedly through Southern Oregon during the months ahead. Medford and Grants Pass performances accompany the orchestra’s Ashland appearances on several Masterworks weekends, giving audiences throughout Jackson and Josephine counties opportunities to participate in a season built around both the orchestra’s regional history and major works from the orchestral repertoire.
Americana Pops provides the opening chapter Saturday and Sunday in Medford, pairing the Rogue Valley Symphony’s 60th-season milestone with music drawn from generations of American composers and performers. From Ellington and Armstrong to Gershwin and Gottschalk, the weekend places American musical history at center stage while beginning another season for an orchestra whose own history has been unfolding in Southern Oregon since 1967.