Well-known Bay Area cellist Bonnie Hampton’s relationship with the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra goes back to the time when she was a principal with the orchestra, and played a concerto with them. And, in fact, the group was founded 74 years ago at the suggestion of her mother, Clarabelle Bell.
For the group’s spring concert, their honored alumna returns to play Ernest Bloch’s powerful “Rhapsody on Hebraic Themes” Schelomo with them. David Ramadanoff, who has helmed the orchestra for the past 20 years, also conducts Jim Beckel’s Musica Mobilis and a suite from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. The concert is preceded by a silent auction at 6:30 p.m.