Yesterday: A Tribute to the Beatles

January 25, 2016

Concert at Shryock will feature Beatles tribute

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra takes a trip down “Penny Lane” with “Yesterday: A Tribute to the Beatles,” on Tuesday, Jan. 26, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Shryock Auditorium. 

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and is the fourth of the five concerts in the symphony’s regular season. 

Beatles music lends itself to symphonic interpretation. Edward Benyas, director of the orchestra and professor of oboe and conducting at SIU, chose to “rock the symphony” after a successful collaboration with the classic rock band Head East last year. 

“Yesterday: A Tribute to the Beatles” is a Las Vegas show and a tour group, with performances logged on five continents. They’ve recently completed a six-month stretch at the Tropicana Las Vegas Resort Casino, and, in conjunction with Yesterday Productions, presented “The British are Coming!” nightly for three years to standing-room only audiences at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino’s Liverpool Club in Atlantic City. In addition to long-running resort destination venues, the group has toured Japan seven times and even more often has toured Canada, the Philippines, Hong Kong, the Bahamas and United States military bases around the world. They’ve even been featured in Rolling Stone magazine as well as several television appearances. 

This won’t be their first visit to the symphony, either. They’ve appeared with several large symphonies for POPS series. 

At SIU, the song selections include Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Yesterday, A Hard Day’s Night, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and more. 

Tickets are $20, $8 for students of any age. To purchase tickets in advance, go in person to the SIU Arena or McLeod Theater box offices, call 618/453-6000, or go online to the Saluki Ticket Office. Tickets are available at the Shryock Auditorium box office beginning one hour before the concert.