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We begin Erin Aldridge’s 20th season as concertmaster of the DSSO with a look to the East, featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s masterpiece, Scheherazade. This large orchestral work includes stunning violin solos which weave throughout the work representing the 1,001 tales told by Sultana Scheherazade as she vied to save her life day after day by seizing the interest of Sultan Shahriar. The program also includes Weber’s contribution to the tale of the Arabian Nights. Piano soloist, Adam Golka, completes the program with Africa, a work by Saint-Saëns written in Algeria and Egypt, and Turkish composer Fazil Say’s 2nd Piano Concerto, which evokes traditional music from Silk Road countries including Tibet, India, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia.

Masterworks 2 offers an evening of music, written purely for the enjoyment of beauty, juxtaposed with Haydn’s (originally titled) Mass for Troubled Times. Anna Clyne’s Restless Oceans presents a pastoral of the natural world including lyrical melodies as well as tempestuous scenes. The second of Brahms’ two serenades is truly music for music’s sake—a tuneful stroll in the concert hall. Paired with these two works, The Lord Nelson Mass was written for the name day of Princess Esterházy, the wife of Haydn’s patron. The Mass honors Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson’s victory over Napoleon at Aboukir, just off the coast of North Africa at Alexandria in 1798.

Join us at the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra’s annual Holiday Spectacular, a magical event that promises to warm your heart and fill you with holiday cheer. Step into Symphony Hall and immerse yourself in a family-friendly extravaganza featuring a variety of traditional and new holiday music that will leave you feeling festive and joyful. After the concert, continue the holiday spirit by visiting the always beautiful Bentleyville Tour of Lights, or explore the Duluth Winter Village for a truly unforgettable day of seasonal delights (park once for all three events!). Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity to create lasting memories with your loved ones this holiday season!

Written in 1891, the year before Dvorak began his sojourn in America, Carnival was second of a three-overture set and was originally titled “Life.” It was played at Carnegie Hall at Dvorak’s introductory concert in America. The peasant nature of Karelia was deliberate – Sibelius’ intention was to capture the quality of naive, folk-based authenticity. The nationalistic character of the music is evident in each of the four movements extracted which form the Suite.

D’un Matin de printemps (“Of a Spring Morning”) was composed during the last months of the composer’s short life. Boulanger had already made a name for herself as the first woman ever to win the Prix de Rome. Stricken with a terminal illness at age 24, her final works convey the intimate and mature compositional voice that explore color and harmony. One of Poulenc’s friends said of him: “There is in him something of the monk and the street urchin.” The Gloria brilliantly expresses these characteristics, with its charismatic fusion of solemnity and mischievous exuberance. Poulenc described the process thus: “While writing it I had in mind those Crozzoli frescoes with angels sticking out their tongues, and also some solemn-looking Benedictine monks that I saw playing football one day.” César Franck Symphony in D minor is perhaps the greatest symphony written by a French person in the latter half of the 19th century. It is best known for its cyclical nature, bringing back melodies from previous movements throughout the piece. Of particular note is a stunning english horn solo buried within.

Michael Abels’ More Seasons is a modern interpretation of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, specifically “Spring” and “Summer,” but with a “maniacal, Minimalist abuse” of the original themes, as Abels himself has stated. It’s often described as “Vivaldi in a Mixmaster.” A review of the first performance stated that Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto “is the most admirable, singular, artistic and complex Beethoven concerto ever.” Written in 1855 at the age of 17 and never played during his lifetime, Bizet’s Symphony in C was “discovered” in 1933. It has been in the symphonic repertoire ever since due to its beautiful melodies, rich orchestration, and elegant charm.

Originally released in 1981 as a collaboration between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Raiders redefined the possibilities of adventure cinema and launched actor Harrison Ford to a legendary status.

Written in 1933 for the 80th anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic and based on Hungarian traditional music, Dances Of Galánta is by far the most popular of Kodály’s purely orchestral works. We finish the season honoring Erin Aldridge with her performance of the Bruch G Minor Violin Concert—one of the most popular pieces in all of violin repertoire. Rhenish, the last symphony written by Schumann, pays homage to the great Cologne Cathedral and to the Rhineland in all its glory.