The grand season finale places an emphasis on various ways in which music is a powerful partner in dramatic storytelling. Beethoven wrote just one opera, Fidelio (1805) but was dissatisfied with his first three attempts at the overture, the so-called “Leonore” overtures. The final version we hear on this program was written in 1814, and at just six minutes in length, is a tour de force of energetic lyricism that helps set the stage. For Elgar’s strikingly beautiful song cycle, Sea Pictures, we are joined by special guest artist, mezzo-soprano Daveda Karanas. Ms. Karanas has appeared throughout the United States, singing major roles with numerous renowned opera companies, including The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and San Francisco Opera. Similarly, she also maintains a busy international career and has appeared with The Israeli Opera, Oper Frankfurt, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and Teatro Real. Her acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut was in 2019 with the Athens Philharmonic in a performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony. Especially crafted by Andrew Lloyd Webber and premiered in 2021, the LSO finishes the season with the stunning Symphonic Suites of the musicals, Evita and The Phantom of the Opera. The suites contain some of the best-loved music of the genre from truly iconic London West End and Broadway shows that ran for decades. You will not want to miss this incredibly special end to the season!

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Music of the Night

Callaway Auditorium

The ingredients for this musical feast are rich and varied! The members of LSYO join with the LSO for the annual side-by-side performance, led by conductor Michael Giel. The program will also feature the winner of our acclaimed Young Artist’s Competition that for many years has brought outstanding young musicians from Georgia and surrounding states to Callaway Auditorium to perform with the LSO. In addition to the winner’s artistry enriching our musical experience, they benefit from an invaluable opportunity to advance their own career. After Bizet’s delightfully compact Carmen Suite No. 1, with its many beloved, popular melodies from the opera, the LSO concludes the evening with Mendelssohn’s joyful Symphony No. 4 in A major, the “Italian”. This work, preceded by the so-called “Scottish” Symphony and the Hebrides Overture, was also the product of a European tour Mendelsohn undertook between 1829 and 1831. The places, landscapes and cultures had a profound impact on Mendelssohn’s creativity, and Italy in particular left him bursting with happiness. He wrote to his father “This is Italy! And now has begun what I have always thought – to be the supreme joy in life. And I am loving it!”. In writing to his sister, Fanny (also a great composer and pianist), he expressed “The Italian symphony is making great progress. It will be the jolliest piece I have ever done. Especially the last movement!” Join us for the effervescent Joy of Italy!

Joy of Italy

Unquestionably, music has the power to inspire and bring forth the full range of human emotion, often taking us on a journey within the space and time of one piece or even a single phrase. The works on this program certainly provide some dramatic contrasts, but at their heart, there is always an oasis of lyrical calm and exquisite beauty; this is music where we can reflect in reverie, be composed and collected. The serenity of Brahms’ St. Anthony Variations is complimented by Strauss’ iconic Horn Concerto No. 1, and we are thrilled to welcome to the stage the LSO’s Principal Horn, the wonderful Anne-Marie Cherry as our guest artist for this work. Borodin’s Symphony No. 2 is a great example of that rich and fulfilling emotional journey – from the profound, powerful and declamatory drama of the first movement, we are led into the playful light of the second movement’s scherzo, then to that poignantly lyrical oasis of composure in the third movement, and finally to surely one of the most brilliant and energetic finales in the world of the symphony. How so much is contained in just a thirty-minute composition speaks to the unparalleled quality of music as an expression of human creativity.

Composed & Collected

Join the LSO and very special guests, including the Callaway High School Cavalier’s Chorus, for this glittering seasonal celebration! No performance at this time of year would be complete without selections from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, the national treasures of Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride and Bugler’s Holiday, or a rendition of ‘Twas the Night before Christmas! Come and hear music from The Polar Express and even get to sing some of your own favorite Christmas Carols. Our gift to you – celebrate the holiday season with your LSO!

A Holiday Celebration

The grand opening of the season presents breathtaking works by some of the great American composers of the last century. Following our rousing National Anthem, we continue with John William’s electrifying Olympic Fanfare and Theme, composed for the opening of 1984 Olympic games held in Los Angeles Olympics. It has all the brilliance of his well-known film scores and immediately establishes the uniquely American flavor of our program. Composer Joseph Wood had a major career, teaching at Oberlin from 1950 to 1985, following musical training at Juilliard, service in the U.S. Army, and a Master’s degree from Columbia. He wrote many solo works, numerous chamber music pieces, and four symphonies, and his music has been performed around the world. It is a profound pleasure to share his much-lauded Poem for Orchestra from 1950. Of particular note for us is that his daughter is long-time LSO concertmaster, Lorna Wood, who retired at the end of last season! The two other major composers on the program were direct contemporaries of Joseph Wood, and we are delighted to present Samuel Barber’s beautiful Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with guest artist, tenor Jonathan Pilkington, and Howard Hanson’s stunning Symphony No. 2, the “Romantic”.

LaGrange Symphony Orchestra

Apr 29, 2025

Music of the Night

Mar 25, 2025

Joy of Italy

LaGrange Symphony Orchestra