Hawaii's newly designated state orchestra opens its first official season this weekend, good news for local arts fans and the neighbor islands it now has a mandate to serve.

• The orchestra was named Hawaii's official state orchestra in June by Governor Josh Green and the state legislature.
• That charter requires it to serve all the islands, and it just finished its first neighbor-island tour in over a decade with Mele for Maui, a tribute to Lahaina's recovery.
• The season opens Friday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall with Mahler's first symphony, Rhapsody in Blue with Japanese jazz pianist Makoto Ozone, and a new work by local composer Leah Alani drawing on Hawaiian royal family music.
• Saturday brings pops conductor Matt Catingub's "From Samoa to Sinatra," marking 50 years in show business and featuring recorded vocals from his late mother, a trailblazing Polynesian singer Frank Sinatra picked as his first female vocalist.
• Lea Salonga performs in October, fresh off a Hollywood Walk of Fame star and a voice role in the new film Forgotten Island.

Outlook: A full season of film music and guest artists follows, with tickets at myhso.org.