POCATELLO — The Idaho State-Civic Symphony will perform music designed to “pull the audience out of their winter doldrums” in the “Catch the Sun” concert Feb. 11 at the Stephens Performing Arts Center beginning at 7:30 p.m., according to returning guest conductor Jennifer Drake and ISCS Board President Ron Bolinger. The concert is the fourth concert of the symphony’s “New Beginnings” season.

Jennifer Drake currently serves as the music director of the Serenata Orchestra and the Boise Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, as well as principal violist for the Boise Baroque Orchestra and section violist for the Boise Philharmonic. She performs as a chamber artist internationally and is the founder of the Idaho Viola Youth Camp and co-artistic director of the Idaho Orchestra Institute. In addition to performing, she has served as the assistant conductor and principal violist for the Fairbanks Summer Art Festival. Ms. Drake conducted the season’s October concert and will return in March to conduct the symphony’s annual POPS concert, this year being presented in conjunction with Idaho State University’s Season of Note. The concert will feature singer-songwriters Matraca Berg and Marcus Hummon in Music City Hit-Makers, singing some of the hits they have written for legendary Nashville artists and themselves.

Drake’s February program gets off to a lively start with Arturo Marquez’s popular “Conga del Fuego Nuevo.” “Signs of Life II” by Russell Peck follows, then the first half of the program will close with Aleksandr Borodin’s well-known “Polovtsian Dances” from the opera “Prince Igor.” The second half of the concert will feature Antonin Dvorak’s classic “Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88,” to round out the evening.

Marquez, one of the most popular contemporary composers of Mexico, studied in both Mexico and the United States, but is a composer of international stature, according to Drake. The selection for the concert is based on the many themes drawing on “new fire” ceremonies of the Aztecs, guaranteed to heat things up.

“Signs of Life” by Russell Peck was composed in the early 1980s consisting of two movements. Peck later added an additional movement and revised the title to Signs of Life II which added an animated spark to the original composition. This later addition will be the movement heard for this program, Drake noted.

“The Polovtsian Dances,” composed by Russian composer Aleksandr Porfir’yrvich Borodin as a part of his opera Prince Igor, was originally scheduled for the symphony’s October concert but had to be canceled due to COVID absences and exposures among the orchestra. Bolinger noted the orchestra is delighted to be able to present it in February. The music is centered around Russian Prince Igor Severski’s military campaign against the Polovtsians and the celebration and festivities that followed.

Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88,” consists of four movements and was first performed in 1890. Familiar in the music literature, this selection is one of the most popular of Dvorak’s many compositions.

Bolinger noted that, as with all classical series season performances, this concert will again be livestreamed, and the link may be found on the symphony’s website. As per ISU guidelines, masks will be required at all times inside the Stephens Performing Arts Center and the Jensen Grand Concert Hall for those attending the performance in-person to ensure the safety of the performers, audience and the behind-the-scenes personnel.

For more details about the concert, contact the Idaho State-Civic Symphony or visit the website www.thesymphony.us For ticket information, contact or visit the Stephens Performing Arts Center box office, 208-282-3595.