An English Holiday

Born and raised in Tacoma, Ryan Bede is familiar to Federal Way Symphony concertgoers for his performances in Handel’s Messiah. A graduate of the University of Puget Sound and the University of Washington, he is currently a PhD. candidate at UW.

Ryan made his Seattle opera solo debut in May of 2017 in The Magic Flute followed by roles in Madama Butterfly, An American Dream, and The Barber of Seville in that same season.
Recent concert engagements have included Spectrum Dance Theater’s production of Carmina Burana as well asBach’s Christmas Oratorio with Early Music Vancouver/Pacific Musicworks,  a solo appearance with the Cal Poly.

Symphony & Chorus (Duruflé Requiem and Ravel Don Quichotte a Dulcinée), the role of the Land Speculator in the premiere of Sarah Mattox’s opera Heart Mountain with Vespertine Opera, and Samuel Barber’s Dover Beach with the Seattle-based Bella Sala Ensemble.

Ryan currently lives in Nashville, TN where he maintains an active performance and teaching schedule. Learn more about Ryan at https://www.ryanbede.com/

Eden Pawlos

She is the first-place winner of the Jessie Montgomery Senior Division at the annual Key to Change Solo String Festival. She has performed on Classical King FM’s Northwest Focus Live and Unmute The Voices radio shows, and performed as a soloist with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, where she will return as a soloist in February 2024. Most recently, she made her debut with the Seattle Symphony and also performed for Dr. Jill Biden, the First Lady of the United States.

Outside of playing the violin, Eden loves painting, spending time with her friends and family, and listening to and making music. After high school, Eden plans to attend a four-year university, where she hopes to study something she loves. Eden studies the violin with Dr. Quinton Morris and Noah Geller. Today marks her debut playing with the Federal Way Symphony Orchestra. 

Jet Cities Chorus

Philip Lane, (b. 1950), is an English composer and musicologist. Old Christmas Music is one of several his Christmas-themed pieces. He has also composed for television including several animated programs. Lane is known for his reconstruction of lost film scores including Goodbye Mr. Chips, The Quiet Man, and The 39 Steps.  More

Johann Sebastian Bach, (1685-1750) was the most celebrated member of a large family of north German musicians. Although he was admired by his contemporaries primarily as an outstanding harpsichordist, organist, and expert on organ building, Bach is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time and is celebrated as the creator of the Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, and numerous other masterpieces of church and instrumental music. More

Ralph Vaughan Williams, (1872-1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century. More

Judith Bailey, (b. 1941) is a British composer, conductor and clarinetist.  She served as conductor of the Southampton Concert Orchestra and Petersfield Orchestras for 30 years. Her compositions include two symphonies, five string quartets, concertos for clarinet and strings and double-bass and strings, some choral works and a substantial amount of music for wind. She is also an accomplished painter whose landscapes are inspired by her native Cornwall.  More

Gustav Holst, (1875-1934), was an English composer and music teacher noted for the excellence of his orchestration. His music combines an international flavour based on the styles of Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, and others with a continuation of English Romanticism. His pioneering methods entailed a rediscovery of English choral and vocal traditions with innovations based on new European music and Hindu literature.  More