EUGENE, Ore. - The Eugene Symphony is set to kick off its 60th anniversary season with a special performance this weekend.

The season begins on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Hult Center in downtown Eugene. The event, titled "Fate and Fire," will feature music from "West Side Story," Vivian Fung, and Tchaikovsky.

Alex Prior, the Eugene Symphony's new music director, will be conducting.

"That ability to just connect and kind of hang out with music then translates into concerts that, I mean, I haven't had that many here, but what I've had and seen also, and witnessed it translates, you see that it goes the energy passes into the audience, through the musicians, through the conductor, in this beautiful loop of common love for music. And it's very communal, very spiritual and communal. And that's,

See Full Page