Urbana Pops Orchestra

Urbana Pops Orchestra’s summer concert, Circus Kaleidoscope, will be held in the auditorium at Urbana High School at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 14. 

The concert is free, under 90 minutes in length, and will feature fun and familiar classics.

Also at the June 14 concert, a mariachi band will make a guest appearance. The group will combine members from the Mariachi Tigres de Urbana, which consists of students from Urbana Middle School and Urbana High School, with musicians from a local adult group, both led by Tamra Gingold, Edgar Guitierez and Leo Castro. 

Gingold is Urbana High School Orchestra/All-City Strings Director and Urbana Pops educational coordinator and principal violinist.

James Yan, a rising junior at University Laboratory High School in Urbana, is this year's  winner of the Chambana International Music Competition Concerto Division. He will perform Camille Saint Saëns' Concerto No. 2 in G minor on piano along with the orchestra. 

Yan studies with Michael Berkovsky, alongside his parents, Jing Hao and Jiafeng Yan. Former teacher and instructors are Susan Crawford, Ian Hobson and Timothy Ehlen.

He is one of the founding members of the Chamber Music Club at Uni.

El concierto de verano de la Orquesta Urbana Pops, Circus Kaleidoscope, se llevará a cabo en el auditorio de la Preparatoria Urbana a las 7 p. m. el sábado 14 de junio. El concierto es gratuito, dura menos de 90 minutos y presentará clásicos divertidos y conocidos.

UPO's Rags to Rhapsody concert featured music feature music from the musical Ragtime, a preview of the cast of Oliver!, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with pianist Kavinder Patel. 

UPO's Happily Ever After concert featured music with a storybook theme that included the Hansel und Gretel Overture by Englebert Humperdinck.

On June 11, 2022, we celebrated Illinois with music. Relive the concert on UPO's YouTube channel.