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Symphonic Poetry: Magic, Fire, and Light

  • Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (map)

https://my.bsomusic.org/overview/19597

PROGRAM

Jonathon Heyward, conductor
George Li, piano
University of Maryland Concert Choir
  Jason Max Ferdinand, director

DUKAS The Sorcerer's Apprentice
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé: Suite No. 2
MUSSORGSKY Night on Bald Mountain
SCRIABIN Prometheus: Poem of Fire

ABOUT

In this spellbinding program, Music Director Jonathon Heyward illuminates four symphonic portraits, drawing on the unique qualities of each instrument to create vivid, dramatic, and colorful effects. Scriabin’s Prometheus: Poem of Fire features an epic orchestra, choir, piano soloist, and color projections for a truly mesmerizing experience.

  • Prometheus's score calls for a "color organ," which provides directions to synchronize colorful projections as the orchestra performs. Scriabin allegedly experienced a phenomenon called synesthesia, in which sounds also translated visually as colors.

  • Two pieces on the program were featured in Walt Disney's Fantasia: Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice tells a cautionary tale about using wisdom when wielding the power of magic, and Mussorgsky's Night On Bald Mountain evokes a Witches' Sabbath as depicted in Russian literature.

  • Composer Igor Stravinsky described Daphnis et Chloé as "not only Ravel’s best work, but also one of the most beautiful products of all French music."

Thursday, November 6, 2025 7:30PM, Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Saturday, November 8, 2025 8:00PM, Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Sunday, November 9, 2025 3:00PM, Music Center at Strathmore