December 5, 2009
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, 8:00pm
Jonathan McPhee, Artistic Director and Conductor

Under the baton of Maestro McPhee, Longwood Symphony Orchestra will take the audience on a musical journey in a program filled with mystery and mythology.  Three myths combine to form a mystical evening, the wood sprites flitter throughout Tapiola, Charon floats down the river in Styx, and Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings pays homage to Tolkien's trilogy.

The program features Jean Sibelius' Tapiola, a piece highly regarded for its Romanticism, which portrays a wood spirit of the Finnish pine-forests and Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings which depicts the dark mysteries of Middle Earth. 

The highlight of the evening will be Georgian composer Giya Kancheli's Styx featuring violist Roger Tapping and the New World Chorale, Holly MacEwen Krafka and John Zielinski, directors. Written for viola solo, chorus and large
orchestra, Styx has been hailed as "a masterwork of the 21st century." The solo viola represents Charon, who ferries souls down the river Styx, between the land of the living and the dead. Styx received its American premiere by the Colorado Symphony in April 2008. This performance will be the work's New England Premiere.

Through its Healing Art of Music™ program, each Longwood Symphony Orchestra concert is in collaboration with a health care organization. For this concert, LSO partners with the Dr. Susan Spencer Clinical Epilepsy Research Fund established in memory of Dr. Susan Spencer, a former President of the American Epilepsy Society and internationally recognized expert in epilepsy and epilepsy surgery.

Read the Program Notes prior to the concert.

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