The Music in the Mountains Youth Orchestra will perform its final concert of the 2017-18 season at 7 p.m. Thursday at the historic Nevada Theatre.

The concert features music inspired by the plays of Shakespeare: Nicolai's "Merry Wives of Windsor," selections from Mendelssohn's "Midsummer Night's Dream," and Tchaikovsky's "Romeo & Juliet," as well as music from Leonard Bernstein's modern adaptation of "Romeo, West Side Story."

Led by conductor Wayland Whitney, the Youth Orchestra is an after-school symphony orchestra program for string, woodwind, brass, and percussion players under the ages of 21, living in Grass Valley, Nevada City, Penn Valley, Auburn and other surrounding areas.

The season runs from mid-September through the end of May, divided into trimester concert sets. Students work on classical repertoire in weekly rehearsals and give three public concerts, all in a friendly, nurturing environment.

The Youth Orchestra is part of Music in the Mountains' extensive music education program, which includes the Young Musicians Competition, Young Composers Project, Carnegie Linkup and much more.

Source: Music in the Mountains.