The Adrian Symphony opens this year with an all-American program of beloved favorites, old and new. Anchoring the program is everyone’s favorite American ballet, “Appalachian Spring,” but it’s joined by two fascinating works: one new and one old.

Premiered just this past April, the new violin concerto “The Rose of Sonora,” is a spaghetti western set to a musical score that follows a narrative throughout this colorful story of the American west, bank robbery, a classic double-cross, and revenge. Guest artist Holly Mulcahy will shine as she brings “Rose” to life on her violin!

Closing is the rarely heard first symphony by Samuel Barber—all of our musicians are excited at the chance to perform this gem.

The Adrian Symphony presents our first every mini-festival. We’ll explore the music of Tchaikovsky in three distinct programs. We begin with the brilliant playing of Dominic Cheli as he shares a program of solo piano works by and inspired by Tchaikovsky. Saturday night, we’ll hear Tchaikovsky’s Russian songs for Mezzo-Soprano and piano, presented Kristin Boggs Clark accompanied by Phil Clark on piano.

Our full orchestra wraps up this amazing weekend of music with favorite works by the master. Dominic Cheli will dazzle us through Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto—always a thrill ride for the audience. The orchestra then presents the last symphony written by the composer. Premiered only weeks before his untimely death, Tchaikovsky puts his entire heart and soul, triumph to tragedy, into this amazing work.

The Adrian Symphony presents our first every mini-festival. We’ll explore the music of Tchaikovsky in three distinct programs. We begin with the brilliant playing of Dominic Cheli as he shares a program of solo piano works by and inspired by Tchaikovsky. Saturday night, we’ll hear Tchaikovsky’s Russian songs for Mezzo-Soprano and piano, presented Kristin Boggs Clark accompanied by Phil Clark on piano.

Our full orchestra wraps up this amazing weekend of music with favorite works by the master. Dominic Cheli will dazzle us through Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto—always a thrill ride for the audience. The orchestra then presents the last symphony written by the composer. Premiered only weeks before his untimely death, Tchaikovsky puts his entire heart and soul, triumph to tragedy, into this amazing work.

The Adrian Symphony presents our first every mini-festival. We’ll explore the music of Tchaikovsky in three distinct programs. We begin with the brilliant playing of Dominic Cheli as he shares a program of solo piano works by and inspired by Tchaikovsky. Saturday night, we’ll hear Tchaikovsky’s Russian songs for Mezzo-Soprano and piano, presented Kristin Boggs Clark accompanied by Phil Clark on piano.

Our full orchestra wraps up this amazing weekend of music with favorite works by the master. Dominic Cheli will dazzle us through Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto—always a thrill ride for the audience. The orchestra then presents the last symphony written by the composer. Premiered only weeks before his untimely death, Tchaikovsky puts his entire heart and soul, triumph to tragedy, into this amazing work.

Something special for this year’s Holiday program. We’re joined by the combined choruses from both Adrian High School and Tecumseh High School, who will team up to share some of the great works of the season for choir and orchestra.

Works both serious and light will put you in the holiday mood as our orchestra continues to showcase its virtuosity in Samuel Barber’s “Die Natali,” while accompanying the choirs on the works on the program.

Adrian Symphony Orchestra

Adrian High School Concert Choir
Steve Antalek, director

Tecumseh High School Choir
Brett Izquierdo, director

What makes a hero? We all know our favorite movie themes from our heroes and heroines. Our annual film concert celebrates all of them, from the obvious to the not so obvious. Characters and costumes will abound!

Mozart gets all the press for his genius as a child. But every bit his equal was the brilliant Mendelssohn. We’ll hear music from both these two bright boys on one program. Audience favorite Steven Lin returns to present the evervescent G minor concerto by Mendelssohn, which ends with the happiest music you’ll hear in 2020.

The program will close with Mozart’s final symphony, nicknamed “Jupiter.” Never heard during his lifetime, we will recreate the masterwork from The Master Mozart.

Adrian Symphony Orchestra
Bruce Anthony Kiesling, conductor

Steven Lin, piano

Our orchestra season in Adrian closes with two works that we’re inspired by visual works of art. Bernstein’s 2nd Symphony was inspired both by Auden’s long form poem “The Age of Anxiety,” which wrestles with the struggles of loneliness in the modern age. Bernstein felt the work was also inspired by Hopper’s “Nighthawks” painting, depicting three lonely souls in an otherwise deserted New York City bar, late in the evening. Scored for piano and orchestra, this work has everything, wandering and lost opening in the clarinets, a jazzy, relentless middle section for combo and percussion, which finally leads to solace and resolution in a glorious finale.

Act 2 brings out the big guns, with the orchestra showpiece, “Pictures at an Exhibition” in the dazzlingly colorful and evocative orchestration by Maurice Ravel. This cross-cultural collection of shorts wraps up with one of the most famous melodies in classical music, with “The Great Gate of Kiev” ringing in the end of the orchestra’s 2019-2020 season.

Artists: 

Adrian Symphony Orchestra
Bruce Anthony Kiesling, conductor

Andrew Tyson, piano