Fri 3/23 @ 8PM
The Akron Symphony Orchestra’s next program at E.J. Thomas Hall will focus on “Planet Earth,” featuring compositions inspired by nature in an evening dedicated to thinking about the beauty of the environment of the need to preserve and protect it.
The best-known piece on the program is early 20th-century Italian composer Ottorino Respighi’s The Pines of Rome, which incorporates a recording of a nightengale’s song. Other pieces include Felix Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides (1830), inspired by the island chain off the Scottish coast, Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Cantua arcticus (1972), which also features bird song, and Ralph Vaughan Williams Sinfonia antartica, which debuted in 1953.
On the latter piece, the women of the Akron Symphony Chorus, directed by Marie Bucoy-Calavan and guest soprano Katherine Swift will join the orchestra, and the performance will be enhanced by images of Antarctica, projected at the sides of the stage.
The usual Preview from the Podium with music director Christopher Wilkins will start at 7pm. But there will also be local groups in the lobby with educational displays of the work they have done on the environment, including The Nature Conservancy, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Countryside Conservancy, the Cleveland Clinic’s Office for a Healthy Environment and the Ohio Biological Survey. So you’ll want to get there early (doors open at 6:30pm) and leave plenty of time for browsing.
Tickets are $25-$55.
University of Akron, Akron, OH 44304