The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra opens its 2021-2022 season in late September with a program featuring Beethoven’s monumental “Eroica” symphony and works by Mussorgsky and Ravel.
“We are delighted to open our 24th season with the return of a full orchestra performing live for our audiences,” said Music Director Julien Benichou. “Beethoven’s Eroica will pay tribute to all the unsung heroes of the period we have just gone through. The second movement, the Funeral March, will pay homage to the victims of COVID-19.”
In addition to the “Eroica” symphony, the concert includes Mussorgsky’s Overture to Khovanshchina and Ravel’s La Tombeau de Couperin. The program will be performed on September 23 at Easton High School at 7:30 PM; at Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes, DE on September 25 at 7:30 PM; and at the Ocean City Performing Arts Center on September 26 at 3 PM.
Individual tickets for the September concert are $45. Subscriptions for all five regular-season concerts are $195, with patrons free to choose from any of the three locations for each program. Tickets for a special non-subscription New Year’s Eve concert at Christ Church in Easton, MD are $60 for general admission $85 for premium seating.
For additional information or to order tickets, visit www.midatlanticsymphony.org. Tickets also may be ordered by telephone at 888-846-8600.
To ensure the safety of its audience members and musicians, the Orchestra requires proof of COVID-19 vaccination for everyone entering venues.
Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Opus 55 (“Eroica”) between 1800 and 1804. One of Beethoven’s most celebrated works, the symphony set new boundaries in form, length, technical challenge, and emotional content. It is widely considered a landmark in the transition between the Classical and the Romantic eras.
Beethoven originally entitled the symphony Bonaparte, since he regarded Napoleon as the champion of the ideals of the French Revolution. After Napoleon declared himself emperor, Beethoven gave the piece its current name.
Modest Mussorgsky’s Overture to Khovanshchina, orchestrated by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, was composed between 1872 and 1875, and was incomplete when Mussorgsky died. The opera tells the story of the insurrection led by Prince Ivan Khovansky against the young Peter the Great and his unstable brother Ivan. The overture’s atmospheric beauty, with a folk-like theme repeated in multiple variations, stands in sharp contrast to the vicious political strife in Russia.
Maurice Ravel completed Le Tombeau de Couperin in 1917. A tombeau (tomb) in music is considered a musical monument, in this case to Francois Couperin, a celebrated French composer of harpsichord music. Originally a suite of six pieces written for piano, Ravel later orchestrated four of the sections for orchestra, and dedicated them to several friends and acquaintances who died in action during World War I.
The only professional symphony orchestra serving southern Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council; the Talbot County Arts Council; the Worcester County Arts Council; the Sussex County, DE Council; and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.