Pioneer Valley Symphony: Burden of Hope
$15-$35 sliding scale ($5 child/student)
- Kinga Augustyn, violin
- Tianhui Ng, conductor
Hector Berlioz — Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14
We welcome prize-winning internationally renowned soloist Dr. Kinga Augustyn for Roxanna Panufnik's heart-rending violin concerto, which celebrates the connection between the Abrahamic faiths by weaving music from Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions. British-Polish Panufnik wrote this piece in consultation with faith leaders in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001, as a message of unity and hope out of darkness.
This insightful work is paired with the epically-proportioned emotional Symphonie Fantastique from 19th-century French composer Hector Berlioz, featuring extravagant orchestral colors describing the story of an artist fixated on a woman who does not return his affections. He falls into despair and addiction to cope, and paints his hallucinatory dreams through a magnificent arrangement of instrumental voices. Don't miss your chance to hear this grandiose and romantic piece, we don't often have the chance to hear four harpists and five percussionists on stage with the orchestra.
Concert length is approximately 1 hour 45 minutes with a brief intermission.
PVS' resident musicologist Dr. David Schneider, Georges Lurcy Professor of Music & History at Amherst College, will host a pre-concert talk at 6pm.