Thanksgiving Point

The Lyceum Philharmonic has hit the top of the Billboard Charts, been featured on PBS with The Piano Guys, recorded for SONY Masterworks, and has millions of streams and YouTube views. This group of talented youth come from schools across the state to participate in the world-class Lyceum Youth Orchestras Program at American Heritage School in nearby American Fork. These youth diligently rehearsed for three months to prepare Sibelius Symphony No. 2 for a series of concerts that were abruptly cancelled hours prior to the performance. The Second Symphony of Jean Sibelius, perhaps more than any other work, fits our current state. The first movement comforts and lulls the listener with gentle sways like waves of the ocean. The second movement introduces a desperate struggle against dark oppression. The third movement is an overactive burst of energy and drive that after great effort, overcomes adversity and breaks into one of the most triumphant, conquering anthems of all time! It is one of the great examples in music of delayed gratification made all the more poignant by the lengths these youth have gone to in order to present this work for the public even months after originally intended. To see a video of these youth performing the finale from Sibelius Symphony No. 2 see: https://youtu.be/khk2K74E8nk