Stories from ballets, a play, and a prose poem form the backdrop for artistic director and principal conductor Brian Dowdy’s first concert with MPO. You’ll tap your feet to the sonorous folk tunes from Aaron Copland’s Rodeo, a ballet that was forward thinking in terms of its depiction of gender roles.
Next, MPO offers a rarely performed tenor version of Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 featuring Josh Diaz and profiling a young protagonist’s wistful and nostalgic adolescence.
Although Beethoven’s overture to Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s tragedy Coriolan is at times startling and violent, a secondary theme connotes reconciliation and redemption. And Tchaikovsky’s beloved music for Swan Lake tells of the eternal triumph of love over peevishness, sorcery, and parochialism.
Conducted by Brian Dowdy
Works Performed
- Aaron Copland, Rodeo – Four Dance Episodes
- Samuel Barber, Knoxville, Summer of 1915 with soloist Joshua Diaz, Tenor
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Coriolan Overture
- Piotr Tchaikovsky, Selections from “Swan Lake”
Dates Performed
- November 18, 2017