Sat 2/9 @ 8PM
When the Akron Symphony takes the stage at E.J. Thomas Hall this weekend, they’ll be reflecting on the ocean’s mysterious vastness, part of the region-wide “Cuyahoga50 celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the most famous of the Cuyahoga River fires and how it sparked clean water advocacy.
After an opening appetizer of Samuel Barber’s eight-minute 1936 Adagio for Strings, the orchestra will perform a quartet of sea-themed pieces. They include excerpts from the Bernard Hermann cantata Moby-Dick, featuring baritone Brian Keith Johnson and tenor Timothy Culver; the Northeast Ohio premier of Florida-based composer Stella Sung’s Oceana; and Claude Debussy’s popular, familiar La Mer.
Making the concert a multimedia event, Adagio for Strings will be accompanied by a photo series called Then and Now, Changes from Above and Below by David Arnold, documenting the impact of climate change on glaciers in Alaska and the Alps and corals in the Caribbean through paired photos of the same locations in different time periods. A film by environmental filmmaker/activist Annie Crawley, who specializes in issues relating to the ocean and is known for her spectacular underwater work, will screen during Oceana. And Great Lakes Science Center will have an educational display in the lobby.
Akron Symphony music director Christopher Wilkins, who will be conducting, will also present at Preview from the Podium talk about the program at 7pm.
Tickets are $25 and up.
University of Akron, Akron, OH 44304