Performing Arts in Harrisburg City, PA
Our city’s Harrisburg Symphony presents a concert of under-presented, yet profound, orchestral works by Jean Sibelius (Symphony No 2), Max Bruch (Scottish Fantasy), and Valerie Coleman (Umoja).
Coleman’s Umoja was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra; Umoja is the Swahili word for Unity and the first principle of the African Dispora holiday Kwanzaa. Originally written as a choral work which embodied a sense of “tribal unity”, Coleman created an orchestral version brings an expansion and sophistication to its original short and sweet vocal melody.
Peter Sirotin, Concertmaster of the Harrisburg Symphony (the concertmaster is the most important chair in the orchestra), performs Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy is one of the German composer’s most popular pieces still being performed. Bruch wrote in the Romantic classicism style of Brahms, and his Scottish Fantasy includes an arrangement of the tune “Hey Tuttie Tatie”, a traditional Scots air.
Sibelius called his Second Symphony “a confession of the soul”. Its grand finale lead initial listeners to link it to the Finnish struggle for independence from Russia, although the composer said there was no intention of such a connection.
Our city’s Harrisburg Symphony presents a concert of under-presented, yet profound, orchestral works by Jean Sibelius (Symphony No 2), Max Bruch (Scottish Fantasy), and Valerie Coleman (Umoja).
Coleman’s Umoja was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra; Umoja is the Swahili word for Unity and the first principle of the African Dispora holiday Kwanzaa. Originally written as a choral work which embodied a sense of “tribal unity”, Coleman created an orchestral version brings an expansion and sophistication to its original short and sweet vocal melody.
Peter Sirotin, Concertmaster of the Harrisburg Symphony (the concertmaster is the most important chair in the orchestra), performs Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy is one of the German composer’s most popular pieces still being performed. Bruch wrote in the Romantic classicism style of Brahms, and his Scottish Fantasy includes an arrangement of the tune “Hey Tuttie Tatie”, a traditional Scots air.
Sibelius called his Second Symphony “a confession of the soul”. Its grand finale lead initial listeners to link it to the Finnish struggle for independence from Russia, although the composer said there was no intention of such a connection.