Written by Margaret Bikman for WhatcomTalk
After cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s sold-out performance with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra last April, the obvious question became: What’s next?
The answer, it turns out, involves a circus tent’s worth of talent. This fall, when the BSO opens its season on October 4, musicians will share the Mount Baker Theatre stage with several acrobats, jugglers, and contortionists from the Shoestring Circus.
It’s the latest example of BSO executive director Gail Ridenour’s guiding philosophy: “Why not ask?”
“We have fun making the magic happen,” she says with a smile.
The BSO’s 2026–2027 season carries the theme “Legends & Sonnets,” and for the first time includes a “build your own adventure” option, letting concertgoers assemble a package of concerts tailored to their own taste.
Here’s the full lineup:
October 4, 2026 – Star-Cross’d Dreams
November 22, 2026 – Longing in Exile
December 13, 2026 – Holiday Magic!
February 7, 2027 – Breaking Dawn
March 21, 2027 – Flights of Fantasy
May 23, 2027 – Fate’s Power — Carmina Burana
Yaniv Attar is the music director of the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra.
Music Director Yaniv Attar credits Ridenour with much of the season’s creative spark. “I’m always amazed at the ideas and community collaborations Gail sees beyond the concert to enhance the concert experiences and increase BSO’s presence in the community,” he says.
The programming process starts with the two of them meeting, where Attar brings a draft built around a central piece. “There’s usually a piece that anchors the program, and then surrounding it — pieces that are more out of the box, unusual, and with special relevance for today,” he says. “Gail is always helpful with finding works that also relate to pop culture, movie music, video game music — always with some kind of connection and something that a younger audience will hopefully connect to and be interested in.”
From there, the draft goes to the artistic committee for final shaping.
That video game connection lands on May 23, when the season closes with Austin Wintory’s Journey score (“Nascence”), Nobuo Uematsu’s “One-Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy VII, and Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” featuring the BSO Choir.
Ridenour traces her enthusiasm for that pairing back to her own classroom. “When I taught 6th-grade general music and we talked about opera and big works with orchestra and chorus, inevitably there would be a kid who came up to me very excited,” she says. “They would bring in the video game music, and sure enough, it was so similar! Seeing kids make those connections and get excited about the orchestra made me realize that there’s great merit in orchestral music from various genres — whether it be video games, cinema, or the classical canon.”
The orchestra also welcomes seven new musicians this season: trumpet player Katie Craighead; principal clarinetist Fabian Nieto Milan; pianist Jay Rozendaal; horn player Shae Wirth; cellist Christian Trusedell; and violinists Hannah Strickland and Jeanette Winckell.
One upgrade has been years in the making. The symphony’s decades-old piano had been showing its age, so last spring the BSO invited donors to a Dueling Pianos event: two instruments, played back to back, with the crowd voting for their favorite.
The winning piano makes its debut at “Longing in Exile: Centerstage with Harmony from Discord” on November 22, featuring pianist Angel Stanislav Wang. That concert also launches the season’s “Harmony from Discord” series, which Attar says is designed to build community through music that speaks to the present moment.
“‘Harmony from Discord’ builds community by bringing to life music that really speaks to the world we live in today — to current events, shared experiences, and things that affect all of us,” says Attar. “And I think once you make that connection, you also start hearing older works with different ears and finding new meaning in them.”
Gail Ridenour is the executive director and co-principal oboe for the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra.
The BSO’s programming extends well past its main-stage concerts. Its Classical Kids series offers free performances that let young audiences get up close with musicians and their instruments at rehearsals. A new dinner series pairs guests with visiting artists — the first will feature Attar playing guitar alongside first violinist Dawn Posey. And a partnership with Village Books has produced a BSO Book Club, pairing selected titles with each concert. Still in the works this season: a series of music-inspired film screenings at the Pickford Film Center.
“Last year was so exciting, as many of our youth programs really took off,” Ridenour says. “Being able to partner with so many other great organizations like the Whatcom Museum, Bellingham and Whatcom County libraries, Village Books, Opus Performing Arts, Wind Works, Mount Baker Theatre, Bellingham Music Club, and others allowed us to create experiences that were multifaceted, engaging, and fun for youth and families.”
As Ridenour puts it, community is the key to everything the BSO does — a theme Laumb echoes as her circus prepares to share the stage this fall.
“We’re excited to celebrate the Symphony and the incredible art they’ve been bringing to Bellingham for 50 years,” Laumb says. “Having our circus be a small part of that just feels very sweet and the kind of collaboration that means a lot to us.”
