OUR MAESTRO. Nobuyoshi Yasuda, Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra's longtime music director and conductor (pictured at right), will take his final bow at the end of the 2025-26 season. (Submitted photos)

As the Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra (CVSO) excitedly shares its 2025-2026 season lineup – the organization's 51st season – it also begins a heartfelt farewell to Nobuyoshi Yasuda, CVSO's longtime music director and conductor. 

In a May 28 media release, CVSO shared its upcoming season, "A Maestro's Legacy," will feature five major concerts from Sept. 2025 to May 2026, held in the RCU Theatre at Pablo Center at the Confluence. An additional performance will also be specially opened to an expanded audience, for the organization's February 2026 concert cycle. 

"Few could have foreseen the impact his appointment would have on the orchestra and the community; Yasuda has since become a fixture in the classical music scene in Eau Claire and beyond."

CHIPPEWA VALLEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

on longtime music director and conductor, nobuyoshi yasuda

Yasuda was new to the Eau Claire community when he was appointed as Music Director and Conductor of CVSO in 1993, then the organization's 19th season. In his honor, CVSO's upcoming season is not only dedicated to Yasuda, but will feature several significant pieces to his incredible career in the Chippewa Valley.

"Few could have foreseen the impact his appointment would have on the orchestra and the community," the media release stated. "Yasuda has since become a fixture in the classical music scene in Eau Claire and beyond. His energetic conducting, dynamic personality, and contagious love for music are often a highlight of CVSO performances." 

CVSO's 2025-26 season schedule:

• Saturday, Sept. 27 at 7pm
  • The season opener will feature "Beethoven's Fifth," Symphony No. 5 – the first symphony ever conducted by Maestro Yasuda – one of classical music's most iconic pieces. Also featured will be cellist Nathaniel Pierce in Tchaikovsky's elegant Variations on a Rococo Theme and Kernis' lyrical Air for Cello and Orchestra.
• Friday, Oct. 24 at 7pm
  • Next, CVSO will present "Music Under Moonlight," inviting the audience to enter an enchanted world where witches gather in Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, skeletons dance in Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre, and trolls scamper through Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King." The program will be hauntingly beautiful, sure to leave concertgoers spellbound, a recent media release noted. Costumes are welcome.
• Saturday, Dec. 13 at 2pm
  • Ringing in the holiday season, CVSO presents "The Magic of Christmas." Audience members can expect Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker as well as White Christmas, modern hits from Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Mannheim Steamroller, and more. 
• Saturday, Feb. 28 at 2pm
  • This show will be bright with creativity, color, and character, featuring "Peter and the Wolf." The engaging, family-friendly concert will be narrated by Annie Jackson during a captivating performance of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. The 2025 Young Artist Competition winner will also make an appearance with the orchestra, and student artwork will be displayed in the Music Moves Me exhibit.
• Saturday, May 9 at 7pm
  • "Maestro's Finale: Conductor Nobuyoshi Yasuda's Farewell Concert" is an absolute can't-miss. The season finale, and Maestro Yasuda's final concert with CVSO, will reflect his journey: Sibelius' Finlandia, the first piece Yasuda ever conducted; selections from Mahler's Symphony No. 9, known as his "Farewell Symphony"; Japanese composer Yuzo Toyama's Rhapsody for Orchestra, in honor of Yasuda's native Japan. 

CVSO's season finale, slated for 7pm on May 9, 2026, "will be a one-in-a-lifetime tribute to a maestro whose 33 years of transformative leadership have shaped CVSO into the outstanding ensemble it is today," the media release stated. 

Tickets to CVSO's 51st season will be available to all on June 20, while full season tickets will begin June 6, sold through Pablo Center's box office (www.pablocenter.org) or by phone at (715) 832-2787. 

Learn more about and keep up with the Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra at cvsymphony.org and on social media.