The Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts will spotlight music by American women on its February 2 program, led by Music Director Kevin Rhodes. The orchestra will perform Amy Beach’s Bal Masqué, Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral, and Joan Tower’s Sixth Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and Sequoia, on a program that also includes Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Elsewhere during the season, the orchestra will perform Augusta Read Thomas’s Prayer and Celebration on a program of Mendelssohn and Brahms, and Libby Larsen’s String Symphony No. 4 (“Beauty Alone”) alongside works by Beethoven and Liszt program. The orchestra is celebrating its 75th-anniversary season in 2018-19. “When planning a season, I always review our past seasons to see which works or composers are due for special attention,” says Rhodes. “For this 75th anniversary season, I knew I would be planning a lot of blockbuster audience favorites. However, I felt it was also very important to feature works by current composers living and working in the 21st century. I was intrigued that so many of these exciting new pieces were written by American women composers.” Susan Beaudry is the Springfield Symphony’s executive director.
Posted September 19, 2018
