Events
Free Family Series
SYMPHONY IN THE PARK
Sunday
Jun 29, 2025
Pioneer Park
301 Parkhill Dr.
Free Concert, donations accepted; Reserved Parking and Seating is available
Relax under the big sky with Billings’ favorite summertime music event. Come early and bring your blanket or lawn chair. Enjoy family activities like the Kids’ Conducting Contest, instrument “petting zoo,” balloon twisting, and food trucks!
5PM
Billings Community Band
Instrument Petting Zoo closed during performance
6PM
Instrument Petting Zoo open 6–6:45PM
Ever wonder how much breath it takes to play a tuba or flute? Or how a violin or cello bow feels in your hand? Thanks to Eckroth Music, you can experience instruments up close. This free hands-on event is fun for the whole family!
6:45PM
Kids Conducting Contest
This annual tradition has become a favorite for the young and the young at heart. Children are invited to come down to the front of the stage at 6:45PM to conduct a march by John Philip Sousa. Guest judges will select four finalists who then vie for a chance to conduct the orchestra on Sousa’s Invincible Eagle. We’re excited to welcome back all our budding musicians! Wands are available for purchase at the Symphony information tent. | Sponsored by Mayor Bill & Anne Cole
Wands are available for purchase at the Symphony Information Tent for just $2!
7PM
Billings Symphony Orchestra & guest artist (TBD)
Please see Symphony program for show line up
Instrument Petting Zoo closed during performance; open during intermission
GUEST ARTIST
Hannah was born in Santa Clarita, CA. She lived there until 2017 when her and her family moved to Billings, MT for her dad’s new job. She spent the next years at Billings Skyview High School, where she joined the choir program and participated in multiple musicals both with the school and with Billings Studio Theater.
She is currently at the University of Montana studying as a young performer majoring in musical theater. She has performed in multiple dance shows, such as Dance Up Close and Dance Film Fest. During her first year, she participated in the university production of She Loves Me, as part of the ensemble and understudied for Amalia Balash. She was also privileged to be a part of the University of Montana Chamber Chorale led by Dr. Duffy. While a part of this group, she traveled to London to premiere an excellent piece of music and then attended the Marktoberdorf Choir Competition in Germany. In the fall of 2022, she first appeared on the Missoula Community Theater stage in the wonderful ensemble for The Addams Family the Musical. She spent much of her sophomore year singing with the University of Montana Opera program, doing scenes from various productions with her peers.
In her third year at the university, she was cast in the play A Wrinkle in Time. She has also been fortunate enough to be a part of the wonderful Aiga Singers Choir developed by Leasi Mana. During the second semester of third year the University of Montana Opera program put on a production of The Magic Flute which was her opera debut in the role of Pamina. Now, in her fourth year, the cast of Into the Woods just closed its run with her as Cinderella. Throughout her years in college she also participated in a handful of film projects. Some of the completed projects include Illicit Allure written and directed by Grace Walcott and Broken in a music video written by Azure Larkwood.
Scott Jeppesen is currently an Associate Professor of Music at Montana State University Billings, teaching Music Theory, Music History, Commercial Improvisation, Commercial Composition/Arranging, Jazz Combo, Music Business, and private lessons on saxophone, clarinet, and flute.
Scott is an alumnus of the University of Southern California, where he earned a Bachelor of Music (BM), Master of Music (MM), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in Jazz Studies.
Before accepting the position at MSUB, Scott lived in Los Angeles for seventeen years. During that time, he performed with many legendary artists, including Maria Schneider, Bobby McFerrin, Russell Ferrante, Burt Bacharach, Lalo Schifrin, Alan Pasqua, Bill Watrous, Shelly Berg, John Daversa, Manhattan Transfer, Stevie Wonder, Nancy Wilson, Artie Shaw, Bob Mintzer, Dave Brubeck, Natalie Cole, Louis Bellson, Al Jarreau, Steve Miller, Randy Brecker, and James Moody. Scott has composed and arranged for many different artists, including Steve Miller, Ramsey Lewis, Natalie Cole, Ruben Studdard, Dave Koz, Ledisi, Burt Bacharach, Monica Mancini, Scott Martin, and the PBS Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, which aired in the spring of 2007.
In 2009, he cofounded Cultivating Creative Minds with his wife, Roxanne, which provides art instruction to elementary school-aged students throughout Santa Clarita, CA.
Scott has released two solo albums: "El Guapo (2013)" and "Wonders (2016)." An in-demand guest artist and clinician, Scott has performed for many colleges, high schools, and middle schools across the United States.
Since 2019, Scott has served as the musical director for the Rocky Mountain Jazz Collective. This ensemble aims to increase appreciation and awareness of jazz music through the performance of themed programs with cultural and historical significance to the history and development of American music. Since its formation, the RMJC has performed tributes to Henry Mancini, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Blue Note Records, Oliver Nelson, and Sammy Nestico. In 2023, Scott arranged "Christmas on Broadway," a 100-minute-long holiday show for a big band, string orchestra, and Broadway vocalists Nicolas Dromard and Desirée Davaar. With Scott as guest conductor, the Billings Symphony Orchestra performed the show at the Alberta Bair Theater in December of 2023. Scott is writing ten new arrangements of Stevie Wonder's music, which the ensemble will perform in June 2024.
Scott is a D'Addario Performing Artist.
SPONSORS
Free Family Series Sponsor
Host Hotel
Media Sponsor
Title Sponsor
Platinum Sponsor
Supporting Sponsors
Supporting Sponsors
Bucket Brigade Sponsor
Instrument Petting Zoo
Ice Cream Sponsor
Ice Cream Sponsor
Event Sponsors
Event Sponsors
Event Sponsors
Food Trucks and Vendors
*NEW ACTVITIES VENDOR*
