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The May 28–30 concerts build from Gershwin’s iconic Piano Concerto in F to the West Coast premiere of American Mosaic, a cinematic, large-scale multimedia experience for orchestra, narration and 4K imagery.

Pacific Symphony launches an ongoing celebration of America at 250 with a compelling, multi-media program that blends a beloved classic with an immersive new work. Gershwin’s popular Piano Concerto in F Major uses jazz and blues inspiration to convey the enthusiastic spirit of American life, as performed by audience-favorite Conrad Tao. The concert culminates in the West Coast premiere of American Mosaic, a cinematic musical work designed to be experienced as much as heard. The landmark collaboration between distinguished composer Peter Boyer and photographer Joe Sohm combines their respective bodies of work celebrating America. Blending symphonic music, awe-inspiring imagery from all 50 states and spoken narration, American Mosaic offers a fully immersive, cinematic concert experience across the nation’s vast and varied landscape – from sea to shining sea.

“This America at 250 program offers a glimpse at our horizon, as Pacific Symphony readies for a season long celebration of the nation’s semi-quincentennial,” says Artistic and Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley. “We are joined by one of today’s most creative and charismatic American soloists Conrad Tao, to perform a seminal American piano work: Gershwin’s Concerto in F. This masterpiece is sandwiched within American music of our own time celebrating the voices of the nation today.

“In Peter Boyer’s American Mosaic, we celebrate the United States not only through his majestic new score, but through stunning imagery captured from all 50 states by photographer Joe Sohm and an inspiring live narration by a groundbreaking woman Deja Foxx.”

To begin the concerts taking place May 28-30 in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Pacific Symphony performs the West Coast Premiere of Inscription II, a compelling and thought-provoking new piece by Diné composer Raven Chacon. Born in Fort Defiance, Arizona within the Navajo Nation, Chacon is the first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music, for his Voiceless Mass in 2022.

Written for full orchestra, Inscription II examines the national motto E Pluribus Unum as both a symbol of unity and a point of tension. Chacon notes that the music portrays individual instrumental voices gradually converging, suggesting both the power of unity and the risk of losing distinct cultural identities.

“We are very honored to open our concert with Pulitzer Prize winner Raven Chacon’s impactful and thought-provoking response to the theme of America 250,” continues Shelley. “I was privileged to conduct the world premiere of this work earlier in the year and it left an indelible impression on everyone in attendance. It is an important statement from a vital voice in today’s living classical tradition.”

Before intermission, acclaimed pianist Conrad Tao joins the orchestra to perform Gershwin’s highly popular Piano Concerto in F. First commissioned by Walter Damrosch, the three-movement work masterfully fuses American jazz and blues with classical music and sparks feelings of tradition and optimism. As a defining piece from the early 20th century, the concerto captures the vibrancy and evolving cultural identity of its time, making it a strong compliment to American Mosaic.

American Mosaic showcases the extraordinary collaboration between Sohm and Boyer. The 33-minute work is filled with decades of Americana photography by Sohm, who is called America’s photo historian. The visuals are presented in 4K videography and celebrate the people, places and spirit of America. Boyer’s orchestral score is heard in 11 continuous movements, and narrated by Deja Foxx, creating an immersive audio-visual experience. Boyer's catalog of American-themed orchestral works, from his Grammy®-nominated Ellis Island to Fanfare for Tomorrow from President Biden’s Inauguration, is acclaimed for its power to uplift and inspire.

Premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., American Mosaic was co-commissioned by six leading American orchestras: the National Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for the Cincinnati Pops, Des Moines Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, and Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra.

“American Mosaic is a musical/visual work that celebrates America’s 250th birthday in what I believe is a unique way,” describes composer Boyer. “With Joe Sohm’s breathtaking video imagery of all 50 states, narration highlighting key aspects of American history, and the emotional power of a great orchestra such as Pacific Symphony, it is hoped that the work will provide audiences with an uplifting experience. As a Southern California-based composer, I’m very excited for its West Coast Premiere performances.”

“Having collaborated with Pacific Symphony on a number of memorable occasions over more than 20 years, including the filming of Ellis Island: The Dream of America for PBS’ Great Performances series, I’m thrilled to continue this collaboration with these performances of American Mosaic, and to work with incoming Artistic and Music Director Alexander Shelley for the first time,” continues Boyer.

The concert titled “Shelley Conducts America at 250,” takes place Thursday-Saturday, May 28-30 at 8 p.m. in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Enhancing the experience, audiences can attend a free Preview Talk at 7 p.m. and enjoy a post-concert meet-and-greet with Alexander Shelley on Thursday and Friday evenings. Tickets start at $36. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit pacificsymphony.org.

About the Sponsors
These concerts celebrating America at 250 are dedicated to the memory of Ted Smith and are generously underwritten by the Ted and Janice Smith Family. Friday Evening’s Performance is generously underwritten by Christopher Tower and Robert Celio, Jr. Additional underwriting is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. The 2025-26 season piano soloists are generously sponsored by The Michelle F. Rohé Fund.

Pacific Symphony’s Classical Series is made possible by the Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation, with additional support from Classical California, LAist, Avenue of the Arts Costa Mesa, The Park Club and PBS SoCal.

About Peter Boyer
|Peter Boyer is one of the most frequently performed American orchestral composers of his generation. His works have received over 900 public performances by more than 300 orchestras, and tens of thousands of broadcasts on classical radio stations around the U.S. and abroad. He has conducted recordings of his music with three of the world’s finest orchestras: the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

His Grammy-nominated work Ellis Island: The Dream of America has received more than 300 performances and was nationally televised on PBS’ Great Performances. Boyer has received commissions from prestigious American institutions, including the Kennedy Center for the National Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Pacific Symphony, and the U.S. Marine Band. Other orchestras that have performed his music include the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

About Joe Sohm
Joe Sohm’s Americana imagery has been published more than one million times in major publications such as National Geographic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, on television—NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, MSNBC & Fox TV—in Al Gore’s Oscar-winning film An Inconvenient Truth, and 24 hours a day worldwide on the Internet.

The Boston Pops, Philly Pops, New West Symphony, and the Kansas City Symphony have featured Sohm’s imagery, scripts, and editing. His “photo-symphonies” have featured narrations by Clint Eastwood and William Shatner, and his Presidential music video was featured during President Clinton’s 1993 Inaugural on worldwide television on MTV. Sohm’s work was featured in the “Concert for America” at the Kennedy Center on 9/11/02, attended by President George W. Bush and broadcast on NBC. In 2013, Sohm co-published, with Reader’s Digest, his award-winning Visions of America tabletop book, featuring an introduction by Paul Theroux.

About Conrad Tao
Conrad Tao is a pianist and composer celebrated for his boundary-defying artistry as well as his powerful performances of traditional repertoire. He has been described by New York Magazine as “the kind of musician who is shaping the future of classical music,” and praised by The New York Times for his “probing intellect and open-hearted vision."

In the 2025–26 season, Tao returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as both soloist and recitalist, performing Bartok with Karina Canellakis, and later presenting a recital program featuring Gershwin song arrangements alongside works by Schoenberg, Strayhorn, Schumann, and others. He also returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl with Marin Alsop, and to the New York Philharmonic at the Bravo! Vail Festival performing with Santtu-Mathias Rouvali. Recital highlights include returns to Germany's Klavierfestival Ruhr, and to the Celebrity Series of Boston, and the Seattle Symphony with Poetry and Fairy Tales, a program blending works by David Fulmer, Rebecca Saunders, Todd Moellenberg, Brahms, and Ravel.

Tao reunites with Robert Spano for performances of John Adams’ Century Rolls (San Diego Symphony) and Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety (Atlanta Symphony). He also joins Matthias Pintscher and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin for Pintscher’s NUR, and travels to Tokyo to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 with the NHK Symphony and Jaap van Zweden. He makes his harpsichord debut at Princeton University in Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s Dies Irae.

About Deja Foxx, narrator
Deja Foxx is a nationally recognized speaker and digital strategist known for her work empowering young people to engage with their communities and shape the future. She is the founder of GenZ Girl Gang, a platform dedicated to supporting young people through connection, mentorship, and opportunity. Foxx gained national attention as a teenager for her advocacy and has since become a leading voice on the influence of social media, youth leadership, and the ways a new generation is redefining civic and cultural participation. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, she speaks widely on the intersection of digital platforms, identity, and community, bringing a contemporary perspective to conversations about American life and shared experience.

About Pacific Symphony
Pacific Symphony is the largest orchestra formed in the United States in the past 50 years and is ranked among the top orchestras in the U.S. by the League of American Orchestras. In 2024, Alexander Shelley was appointed to become Pacific Symphony’s third artistic leader, taking the title of Artistic and Music Director, beginning in the 2026-27 season. He is serving as Artistic and Music Director Designate during the 2025-26 season, which marks Pacific Symphony’s 47th season. Founded in 1978, the Symphony was led for 35 years by Carl St.Clair, who is honored with the title of Music Director Laureate starting in the 2025-26 season.

In its 47-year history, Pacific Symphony has gained national and international recognition, with recent highlights including a 2018 Carnegie Hall debut in celebration of composer Philip Glass; a five-city tour of China; and a PBS “Great Performances” broadcast of Peter Boyer’s Ellis Island: The Dream of America. In 2024, Pacific Symphony released the world-premiere recording of Fiat Lux, a stirring new commission by composer Sir James MacMillan performed with long-time artistic partner Pacific Chorale. The Symphony has been recognized with multiple ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming and included among the country’s five most innovative orchestras by the League of American Orchestras.

With a purpose to lift the human spirit through the power of music, the Symphony is a cornerstone of the cultural landscape of Southern California, enriching lives and bringing communities together through creative and diverse programming. As the resident orchestra of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, the Symphony presents more than 100 concerts and events each year and a rich array of education and community engagement programs, reaching more than 300,000 residents of all ages.

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