The Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra will honor the Wallowa Mountains and the life of Chief Joseph when it performs Dvorak's "From the New World" at the close of the symphony season.

The final concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. May 30 at McKenzie Theater on the campus of Eastern Oregon University. Tickets are $15, $5 for students, and will be

available at the door or at Sunflower Books.

"I have become very attached to the Wallowa area and Chief Joseph and what happened to him," said conductor Leandro Espinosa. "This represents the trail and those visions."

Two La Grande High School students, senior Sam Pettit and freshman Bern Youngblood, will be featured in solo performances during the concert. Pettit, who plays trumpet in the orchestra, the youth orchestra, the La Grande High School band and jazz ensemble, will play Hummel's Concerto in E-flat major.

Youngblood, a violinist in the orchestra and youth orchestra, will play the "Scene de Ballet" by Charles Deberoit. He also plays trumpet in the La Grande High School band.

Pettit will attend Brigham Young University where he plans to major in trumpet performance. He has been playing since the third grade, and he plays the piano and sings. He is the son of Trey and Julie Pettit of La Grande.

Youngblood has been playing violin since first grade and he fiddles in the American folk style. He is the son of Andy and Susan Youngblood.

"I do a lot of fiddling," he said. "I don't know which I like better."

Espinosa said the students who won the concerto competition are "extraordinary performers — extraordinarily gifted."

The concert will open with a combined performance from the symphony and the youth orchestras playing the first movement from Mozart's "Jupiter Symphony." According to Espinosa the combined performance is in "recognition of a new generation getting ready to assume their place in performance."

The conductor, who is ending his first year in La Grande, said "I feel wonderful. The orchestra and I are getting some real understanding. We have a good future here."

He said La Grande's location in the middle of the Blue Mountains provides a setting for all arts.

"Being isolated and in contact with nature — and human kindness — is a good background for the arts," he said. "This orchestra is proof of that."