Festival Orchestra

It’s hard to imagine a piece of classical music causing a riot, but that’s the word often applied to the audience’s reaction when Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring debuted in Paris in 1913. The music (and dancing) broke with tradition so dramatically that it’s often called the first example of modernism in music. As a young man, Stravinsky’s first inspiration to write music for dance came from seeing Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, so it’s fitting that the Festival Orchestra plays some excerpts from that ballet to open this concert.

Debussy loved the sea, especially its unpredictable and ever-changing motion. His most performed work, La Mer, captures—in music, as only Debussy could—the play of light on the water and the sea’s place in the natural world. Also on the program, the Festival’s exploration of Mozart’s wind concertos continues with Principal Bassoon Andrew Cuneo performing Mozart’s concerto for the bassoon, a piece that shows off the instrument’s remarkable agility and range. Opening the program, Maestro Neale leads the orchestra in Agnegram, a short piece composed by his friend and mentor, the great conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

Vivacious and unpretentious—and both emotionally and physically exhausting to play—Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto has become so popular that it’s often performed at opening night galas. Grammy-winning violinist Hadelich performs this concerto with the Festival Orchestra on a program with Florence Price’s Andante moderato.

After hearing Sasha Cooke sing Mahler’s Rückert Lieder on August 10, audiences may recognize some themes in tonight’s symphony. The fourth movement, the Adagietto, draws explicitly from the Lieder and is recognized as a love letter from Mahler to his wife, Alma. Leonard Bernstein famously led the New York Philharmonic in a performance of the heartbreakingly beautiful Adagietto at Robert Kennedy’s funeral service in 1968. The rest of the symphony is pretty good, too.