20 10 24
PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS
Jared Miller Surge and Swell
Erik Satie orch. Debussy Gymnopédies 1 & 3
Helena Munktell Bränningar
Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances
A celebration of a new chapter beginning, and the building blocks of the foundation for years to come. From one coast to another, Jared Miller and Helena Munktell offer reflections on water and how oceans can be bridges between communities. Erik Satie’s ‘Gymnopédies’ provide an invitation and reminder to immerse oneself in the sanctuary that is live music, while Rachmaninoff’s ‘Symphonic Dances’ reminds you that the real stars of the PEISO are the musicians seated on stage.
24 11 24
INFLUENCERS
Leonard Bernstein Overture to Candide
Clémence de Grandval Oboe concerto in D minor | Ari Cohen Mann, oboe
Florence Price Symphony No. 1 in E minor
The course of history can often be changed by one good influencer, but influencers have been around long before social media. The concert opens with Bernstein’s ‘Overture to Candide’; a composer who was not in the business of hiding themselves from the world and wrote music to prove it. Ari Cohen Mann, who has harnessed social media as a platform for reflection, education, and discussion, performs the rarely heard Grandval oboe concerto, followed by the enormous and ground-breaking first symphony by Florence Price—the first work by a female-identifying person of colour performed by a major American orchestra. And what marvelous work it is…
02 03 25
EX-ROMANTICO
Gabriel Fauré Pavane
Kati Agócs Horn concerto | James Sommerville, horn
Felix Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 in A minor
The romantic period of classical music is defined by many things in textbooks and
schools. One of its core traits is that it was music written to amplify and exaggerate
human emotions. It was over the top in the best of ways. Ex-Romantico is a program of music written in that same vein, but outside of the defined period of romanticism.
Fauré’s impressionist ‘Pavane’ pulls at the heartstrings, while Mendelssohn’s third
symphony is a fiery and intense journey from start to finish. James Sommerville, former principal horn of the Boston Symphony, joins the PEISO for the island premiere of the boundless Kati Agócs’ horn concerto, co-commissioned by the PEISO.
06 04 25
ENCOUNTERS
Caroline Shaw The Observatory
Mason Bates Mothership
Modest Mussorgsky orch. Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition
The 2024/25 season comes to a close with an adventurous and thunderous finale! ‘Encounters’ is music that speaks to engagement across cultures, communities, and geography. Caroline Shaw opens the program with ‘The Observatory’, written while she stood at the base of the Griffith observatory in Los Angeles contemplating the stars above and the city below. The lauded work ‘Mothership’ by Mason Bates imagines the orchestra as a spaceship flying through galaxies, encountering different musical planets represented by four non-orchestral soloists improvising with the orchestra. To close the year, the famed ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ depicts a patron at an art exhibition, taking in paintings and scenes from across the world. It is an affirmation of art’s power to transport us, and is amongst the most loved, famed, and important works in music.
