Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón will be composer in residence
for the upcoming season. The orchestra will perform her compositions and arrangements on four
programs — including a world premiere — during the season.
build our organization to serve Central Florida
for the next 25 years.”
NEW MUSICAL ADVENTURES
The Classics Series opens with Ottorino
Respighi’s 1924 Pines of Rome (September
29), a dreamy tone poem that will feature
guest vocalist Maria Laetitia, a Puerto Rican
born soprano.
That’s followed by Gustav Holst’s The
Planets (November 3), a seven-movement
orchestra suite written in 1914 that will spotlight
Kalhor, the previously mentioned kamancheh
player. He’ll join the orchestra to
perform the epic astrological masterpiece,
which he previously recorded with the Silk
Road Orchestra.
There’ll also be a program of sensual tangos
— called, appropriately, Tango! (January
19, 2019) — followed by Ludwig van
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major
(February 23, 2019), a work written between
1811 and 1812 and described by the composer
himself as one of his best works,
The Classics Series concludes with a symphonic
bonbon, French Soirée (April 27),
which will feature works by Georges Bizet, Gabriel
Fauré, Olivier Messiaen, Maurice Ravel
and Camille Saint-Saëns — with vocals from
the University of Central Florida Chorus.
22 artsLife | SUMMER 2018
The Pops Series salutes American music
in an array of genres, including a seasonopening
performance by singer/songwriter
Rhiannon Giddens (October 13), best known
as a founding member of the old-time string
band the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Giddens’ Grammy-nominated solo debut
album, Tomorrow is My Turn, blends gospel,
jazz, blues and country. She won the Steve
Martin Prize for Excellence in Bluegrass and
Banjo in 2016. Her most recent album, Freedom
Highway, was released last year.
Home for the Holidays! (November 24),
conducted by Albert George Schram, will
celebrate the season with the orchestra
and an assortment of choirs and guest artists.
It has become arguably the region’s
most popular holiday concert event.
Feel like partying? Then you won’t want
to miss Mardi Gras in New Orleans (March
9, 2019), conducted by internationally renowned
trumpeter Byron Stripling. It will
showcase steamy jazz and belting blues
popularized by Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino
and Mahalia Jackson, among others.
Bring your own beads.
Whose Line is it Anyway? star Colin Mochrie
will preside over The Second City Guide
to the Symphony (February 2, 2019), an evening
of music and musically themed come-