Ravel: Pavane pour une Infante Défunte
This program illustrates how melody is used to move musical pieces along in one continuous flow. Beginning with a long, slow strain, we see and hear Ravel’s melody progress through a series of changes and variations created by the addition of diff...
Mozart: Overture to "The Marriage of Figaro"
Using Mozart’s lively operatic piece, this program illustrates how composers weave together musical ideas to bring contrast and texture to their music. Abrupt pizzicatos, resounding fanfares, and languid melodies presented as a series of quick edi...
Milhaud: Bœuf sur le Toit
In this progam, the orchestra uses lighthearted café music from the Milhaud ballet set in a Paris nightclub to illustrate how the use of various keys adds color to the musical landscape. Different instruments, performing the pieces in major and min...
Stravinsky: Devil’s Dance from A Soldier’s Tale and Vivo and Finale from Pulcinella
This energetic program illustrates how unpredictable rhythms punctuate musical pieces, and how different instruments are used to create the effect. The orchestra dissects the two Stravinsky pieces line-by-line, illustrating the composer’s use of s...
Why we buy
This program places consumers under a microscope to quantify the psychological spectrum of buying, from everyday habits that typically steer Americans through their supermarkets and malls to a clinical disorder in which the high of making a purchase...
Appalachian spring
How "musical space" is used to create drama in classical pieces is explored by examining this famous work of American composer Aaron Copland. Mixing small musical steps with giant leaps between notes and chords, the orchestra shows how Copland devel...
How they sell
From the Turkish bazaar to the Mall of America, this program reveals the strategies being used to ensure that wallets and purses remain open for business. Retail anthropologist Paco Underhill, shopping center architect Eric Kuhne, retail analyst Cla...