Youth Orchestras of San Antonio's (YOSA) most recent project will play out Monday night at the Tobin Center. Twelve local bands have joined forces with YOSA to perform the Beatles album Abbey Road. Here's Troy Peters.
"We're going to play the album from start to finish, in order. There are a few extra Beatles songs earlier in the show, to kinda get things warmed up and fill out the evening. But yeah, once we start Abbey Road we'll go from track one to the very end," he says.
Peters never has understood the division that exists to many between classical music and rock-n-roll.
"I grew up playing rock-n-roll. I was in bands in junior high and high school. And at the same time I grew up as an orchestra kid. And I loved both of those things and I didn't see a big separation."
One of the rock-n-roll bands performing will be Femina-X, fronted by multimedia artist Daniela Riojas. Their first song isn't one from Abbey Road, but it's an iconic Beatles tune.
"We're doing Hey Jude. Something about it has that natural quality where people just naturally gravitate towards it," she said. She also noted, "It's surprisingly very difficult!"
Abbey Road wasn't new to 26-year-old Riojas.
"I've been listening to Abbey Road since I was very young. Maybe 8 or 9."
Femina X was one of the bands playing YOSA's last album experiment, Radiohead's OK Computer. I asked Riojas what it felt like being backed by a 65-piece orchestra. She smiled.
"It was an amazing experience. Everything from the beginning to the end was totally magical."
The recent passing of Beatles Producer George Martin hasn't gone unnoticed. Peters said, "We're dedicating the performance Monday night to his memory."
Find more about YOSA here.
Find out more about this performance here.
Find out more about Femina-X here.
