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...
La Paloma: The History and Mystery of the World’s Most Popular Song
In Zanzibar they play it at the end of weddings, in Romania at the end of funerals, in Mexico as a protest song, and in Germany as a sailor’s lament. Written a century and a half ago by Sebastián Iradier and first performed in Cuba, “La Paloma�...
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...
Music Moves the World: The Power and Passion of Rhythm, Melody, and Dance
This program travels to both developing and industrialized countries to capture culture-defining rhythms and melodies and explain the important roles they play in human society. With stops in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe, t...
Genres in Music: From Handel to Hip-Hop
Throughout history, musicians and musical works have reflected the fashion, culture, and social attitudes of their times. Music today is more diversified than ever, from the megahits of teen pop stars to the depth and emotionality of gospel choirs t...
Lost and Sound
Examines the efforts of three people who are deaf or hearing impaired to realize their personal connections to music. A music journalist developed severe tinnitus and lost hearing in one ear and had to relearn how to listen to music. A young girl wh...