RECENT PERFORMANCES
The world premier of Sahba Aminikia’s House of Circus was first aired in the final concert of the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2020-21 virtual season. The video, produced by Pinar Demiral, features “Circus Heroes” of the Sirkhane Social Circus School, which provides a place of empowerment, expression and play for survivors of the ongoing war in Syria.
This performance of the first movement of Dušan Bogdanović’s Jazz Sonata was first aired as part of the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2020-21 virtual season. An incomparable composer, performer and improvisor, Dušan was a one of my teachers at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, so I was thrilled to share his music with our audience.
ORIGINAL PROGRAM NOTES

Florence Price – Symphony No. 4 in D minor
Twelve years prior to composing her Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Florence Price had her first symphony premiered at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair,

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6 in B minor
The Myth On October 28, 1893, Tchaikovsky took to the podium to conduct the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, a monumental work as fraught with

Alice Mary Smith – Symphony in C minor
Born in London in 1839, Alice Mary Smith was the daughter of Elizabeth Lumley and Richard Smith, a wealthy lace merchant. Her earliest published work,

Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 5 in D minor
EVERYTHING’S READY: THE POEMAS IS ITS WAY, IS SILENT.BUT SUDDENLY THE THEME BREAKS OUTHAMMERS AT THE WINDOW LIKE A FIST,AND FROM FAR OFFA TERRIBLE SOUND

Missy Mazzoli – Proving Up
[Musical notes to accompany Stage Director notes] Acoustic guitars struck with percussion mallets. Eerie harmonicas and muted horns. Dusky strings, brash woodwinds, a nagging harpsichord,

Benjamin Britten – The Rape of Lucretia
[Musical notes to accompany Stage Director notes] Musical tones are always telling us something in The Rape of Lucretia . Sometimes they signify the most