The Community Library, John A. and Carole O. Moran Lecture Hall

This Upbeat with Alasdair features a conversation between Alasdair Neale and composer Anna Clyne. The Music Festival co-commissioned Clyne’s new work, Woman of the Mountain, and will perform it on August 3. Clyne describes the piece as “evoking the journey of an extraordinary woman immersed in the natural world, climbing toward a mountain’s summit in search of love.”

In this edition of Upbeat with Alasdair, Alasdair Neale discusses Brahms’s largest composition, A German Requiem. Notwithstanding its title, Brahms’s Requiem is a work full of messages of comfort and hope. This summer, on August 9, the American Festival Chorus, featuring soprano Christina Pier and baritone Benjamin Appl, will join the Festival Orchestra to perform this this remarkable piece.