Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra

Dane Lam was hired in 2023 as the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra's first music director. Without this extension, his contract would have expired in 2028.

Virtuoso violinist Jinjoo Cho is back in Honolulu to perform Brahmsʻ Violin Concerto with the Hawai`i Symphony Orchestra. The musician, writer, Professor and founder of ENCORE Chamber Music Institute shares her view from the stage, and her thoughts on the future of classical music.

Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra composer-in-residence Michael-Thomas Foumai joined Morning Café to preview this Friday’s concert at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. The evening features Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Jinjoo Cho, and the Hawaiʻi premiere of Gillian Karawe Whitehead’s Tūranganui, inspired by the first meeting between Captain Cook and Māori tribes.

Composer Logyn Okuda returns to Classical Pacific with updates on his career, orchestrating for composer Michael Giacchino on Butterfly, The Fantastic Four, and most recently, the upcoming Zootopia 2. Okuda will back home in the islands this week as one of 5 Hawai`i composers featured in the Hawai`i Symphony Orchestraʻs Symphony of the Hawai`i Seas. https://www.logynokuda.commyhso.org

Composer in Residence of the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, Michael-Thomas Foumai brings his favorite music for the Ocean as we celebrate our Hawai`i Symphony Orchestraʻs Symphony of the Hawaiʻi Seas. The multi-media concert features Hawaiʻi Composers Takuma Itoh, Justin Park, Logyn Okuda, and Foumai.

Justin Park is a composer based in California, and is one of five Hawaiʻi Composers featured this week with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra. The Kamehameha Schools - Kapalama and Berklee College of Music graduate says that writing music is rewarding, and hopes that as we listen to the "Symphony of the Hawaiʻi Seas," that we will remember our experiences being in the ocean, and that it will spark inspiration to make our environment a better place to live in.

Composer and Educator Herb Mahelona talks with Classical Pacific host Sharene Taba about Symphony of the Hawai‘i Seas, the upcoming free concert of the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra that combines local composers, storytelling and animation. Mahelona lives in Hilo and is a composer of operas, most recently for his students at The Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi Campus.

Classical Pacific's Thursday segment, "Staff Picks," was created to get to meet our friends who work in the arts, and hear what music balances their lives. Composer Mieke Doezma is the Community & Education Coordinator of the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra and a graduate student at the University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa.

This weekend, the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra celebrates Halloween at the Hawaiʻi Theatre with Hapa Halloween: Mysteries of Hawaiʻi In Concert. In this creepy conversation with Composer in Residence of the HSO, Michael-Thomas Foumai, Classical Pacific host Sharene Taba is treated to Foumaiʻs playlist: the spookiest of music by Jerry Goldsmith.

"The Ghost Guy," Lopaka Kapanui will be in concert with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra this weekend, telling spooky stories in "Hapa Halloween: Mysteries of Hawaiʻi In Concert" at the Hawaiʻi Theatre. Kapanui joins the frightened Classical Pacific host, Sharene Taba.myhso.org