I feel so spoiled to be in the Olympia area and able to enjoy such a stellar group like the Olympia Symphony Orchestra. The new director, Alexandra Arrieche, is just great! She is so spunky, has a lot of energy, and I love how she is so animated when she directs. Not too bad that I'm partial to strings, Berstein and more contemporary pieces, but also in the last concert, they had a "mystery song" on the program. In about 3 notes, I recognized it as Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" which brings me to tears anyway, but to see a guest violinist and a full orchestra playing such a great piece was fantastic, and the subtle rainbow lights (part of the song, if you don't know) just really hammered it home for me. I'm also an LGBTQ ally so love anything with rainbows, but congrats to the organizers, musicians, director, guests and sponsors for bringing youth and contemporary stuff into the fold. I know people at work who aren't classical music enthusiasts but they started coming, so yay! Keep music and the arts alive in this community. Thank you for helping me have a big girl cry. read more