Orchestra in SoCal

Sunkyung Noh & Grant Smith Sunkyung Noh & Grant Smith at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion About Sunkyung and Grant Sunkyung Noh is a South Korean concert organist. She studied with Dong-ill Shin at Yonsei University and earned two master's degrees in Organ and Claviorganum under Wolfgang Zerer and Menno van Delft in Hamburg, Germany. She pursued advanced studies in Leipzig with Martin Schmeding. Noh has garnered recognition both in Korea and internationally. In 2022, she won second prize at the International Schnitger Organ Competition in the Netherlands, and later that year, she won first prize at the 6th International Buxtehude Organ Competition in Lübeck, Germany. In January 2023, she became the first Asian winner of the prestigious International Mendelssohn Competition, earning both the First Prize and the Contemporary Work Interpretation Award. In July 2023, she also received First Prize and the Gold Medal in Interpretation at the 32nd St Albans International Organ Competition. She performs actively across Europe, Asia, and the United States, appearing in renowned venues such as the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, King’s College in Cambridge, Church of the Advent in Boston, and St. Bavokerk in Haarlem. She has also performed with orchestras at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. In 2026, she will release her debut solo album and tour internationally. Grant Smith is an award-winning concert organist from Fresno, California. His performing career has taken him to major venues around the world, including in the US, Ireland, England, Germany, South Korea, and Japan. Smith was awarded Second Prize in Interpretation at the St Albans International Organ Competition in London in July 2025. Previous competition successes include Third Prize in the 2024 Leipzig Bach Competition, First Prize in the 2023 Hall Organ Competition in Texas, and First Prize in the 2022 Feith Competition in Germany. He is a recent graduate of Rice University in Houston, where he studied with Ken Cowan for a master’s degree in organ performance. While in Houston, Smith held organist positions at Christ Presbyterian Church, West University Baptist Church, First Lutheran Church, and the Houston Masterworks Chorus. He accompanied the West University Baptist Church Choir on an eight-concert tour of Ireland in July 2024. Smith graduated with two bachelor’s degrees in music and civil engineering from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where he won the school’s Concerto Competition twice

Program: MENDELSSOHN: The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26; MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64; HAYDN: Symphony No. 104 in D major, “London” Performers: Los Angeles Philharmonic; Louis Langrée (conductor); Marc Bouchkov (violin)

Program: FARRENC: Overture No. 1, Op. 23; BIZET: L’Arlésienne Suite No. 1; BIZET: Selections from Carmen Suites Nos. 1 & 2; BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 Performers: Los Angeles Philharmonic; Louis Langrée (conductor); Augustin Hadelich (violin)

Performers: LLS Orchestra; Simona Grossi , Conductor

Pack a picnic, grab a lawn chair or blanket and gather the family for an evening of free music and outdoor summer fun! Now a long-standing summer tradition, Symphony in the Cities brings thousands of people together for great music and entertainment in local parks each year. With a potpourri of popular classics, pop tunes, and patriotic tunes, these concerts are sure to be fun for the whole family!

Pack a picnic, grab a lawn chair or blanket and gather the family for an evening of free music and outdoor summer fun! Now a long-standing summer tradition, Symphony in the Cities brings thousands of people together for great music and entertainment in local parks each year. With a potpourri of popular classics, pop tunes, and patriotic tunes, these concerts are sure to be fun for the whole family!

Program: YOLA National Festival Overture Chamber Music Program; YOLA National Festival Symphony Orchestra; Beauregard CHIASSON: On Becoming; COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: Ballade in A minor, Op. 33; TCHAIKOVSKY: Andante Cantabile and Finale from Symphony No. 5; Arturo MÁRQUEZ: Danzón No. 2 Performers: YOLA National Symphony Orchestra; YOLA National Overture Chamber Music Program; Thomas Wilkins (Symphony Orchestra Conductor)

David Higgs at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion About David One of America’s leading concert organists, David Higgs is the Minehan Family Professor of Organ and Chair of the Organ Department at the Eastman School of Music. He performs extensively throughout the United States and abroad and has inaugurated many important new instruments including Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, St. Albans Cathedral, England, Church of St. Ignatius Loyola New York City, and Christ Church Cathedral Cincinnati. For over twenty years he performed annual holiday organ concerts to capacity audiences at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. He has performed with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus Ensemble, Chanticleer, and the Empire Brass. Mr. Higgs appears at organ festivals and competitions around the world, including the Stockholm Organspace Festival, Sweden; Fribourg International Organ Festival, Switzerland; in Germany, the European Organ Academy Leipzig, the Leipzig Bach Competition, Gottfried Silbermann Competition Freiberg, and Bremen Musikfest; festivals of Calgary, Dublin, Odense, Varzi, Redlands and San Anselmo, California; and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. In England, at the Oundle International Festival, the St. Albans International Festival, and the Cambridge Summer Festival; in France, the Xavier Darasse International Competition in Toulouse; and Japan at several venues, most recently an all-Bach recital at Izumi Hall in Osaka. He often performs at conventions of the American Guild of Organists, and in 2010, performed the inaugural St. Cecilia Recital at a national convention. In 2018 he performed concerts in France, including a solo recital at Notre-Dame Cathedral Paris, and as guest teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. Mr. Higgs is a distinguished pedagogue. He was appointed to the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music upon graduation from that institution, and has been a member of the faculty of the Eastman School of Music since 1992. His students have won prizes in prestigious international competitions, and hold important positions in leading academic and religious institutions. Mr. Higgs has recorded for Delos International, Pro Organo, Arsis, Loft, and Gothic records. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 David Conte (b.1955) Soliloquy Johann Gottfried Müthel (1728-1788) Fantasia in G Minor George Shearing (1919-2011) Two Hymn Preludes There is a Happ