Symphonic hymns and airs resound with nature imagery in Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Symphonic Variations on an African Air, Dvorák’s In Nature’s Realm, and Sibelius’ Finlandia. MPO and One Voice Mixed Chorus celebrate contemporary composers with local history in works by Dessa and Jocelyn Hagen, Mari Ésabel Valverde, and Lee Hoiby.

Colors and melodies shimmer in three works that challenge notions of “traditional” and “new.” Playfulness and groove drive Libby Larsen’s Overture for the End of a Century; spring’s warmth arrives in Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9; and guest artists Korey Konkol and Stephanie Arado captivate us with melodic virtuosity in Bruch’s Double Concerto.

Sibelius’ Karelia Overture celebrates the composer’s homeland, and MPO celebrates Minnesota’s Mina Kaiser in her Tombeaux & Rainbow. Persichetti’s Pastoral for Wind Quintet and Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia journey through landscapes real and imagined, and William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 5 “The Western Hemisphere”.