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Our season finale features The extraordinary music of Carl Nielsen and Gustav Mahler—two great composers celebrated for their symphonies that transcend the boundaries of classical music, delving into themes of human struggle, nature, and life itself. The program opens with two compelling works by Carl Nielsen: Saga Dream, inspired by the Icelandic saga Njála, and his enchanting Flute Concerto, featuring our principal flutist, Jennifer Wright. The concert concludes with Gustav Mahler's monumental Symphony No. 1, Titan—a masterpiece widely regarded as one of the most remarkable and ambitious first symphonies ever composed. We look forward to welcoming you on Sunday, May 11, at 2 PM, at MassBay in Wellesley.  We're easy to get to, with free and convenient parking, and a reception after the concert.

Sherborn Library, March 15 We are passionate about bringing live classical music to as many communities as possible. This season we have hosted outreach events at libraries in Wellesley, Needham, Dover, Framingham, and Sherborn. These events offer a fun, informal opportunity to showcase our instruments and music.  We are thrilled to connect with families who want to experience music up close—both for themselves and to introduce their children to classical, live music. Dover Public Library, March 1 Needham Public Library, March 1 Dover Public Library, March 1

Our family concert features music with strong melodies and drama. Music that evokes rivers and animals and the struggles of building community. Central to the program is Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" - a story of a 19th century settlement, incorporating Shaker themes in Copland's signature style. Get tickets And we are very happy to present Maggie Bai, winner of the 2024 Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition, playing from Schumann's Piano Concerto No. 1 Rossini - Overture to  The Thievin g Magpie Smetana - The Moldau Handel - Largo , from Xerxes Grainger - Molly on the Shore Schumann - Piano Concerto, I. Allegro affettuoso, featuring Maggie Bai, piano Copland - Appalachian Spring We will also be joined by students from the Wellesley Public Schools Elementary School String Program.

Our February 9 concert features two great symphonies. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 40, also known as the "Great G minor symphony" Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's epic Symphony No. 5. Please join us, Sunday February 9, at 2pm at MassBay Community College in Wellesley.

Music Director Mark Latham introduces the program for our Nov 3 concert : "Breathe" by Carlos Simon Samuel Barber's Concerto for Violincello and Orchestra, featuring Brent Selby . Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story" The concert is at 2 pm at MassBay Community College in Wellesley, on Rt 9, just west of Rt 95. Parking is plentiful and free, ticket prices are pay-what-you-can, with a reception after the concert.

The first is a free concert on Wednesday, January 15 at 8pm , presenting 6 outstanding soloists who auditioned at our Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition this past November (the competition winner, Maggie Bai, appear with us at our March 23 Family Concert.) The program includes selections for piano, violin, and bassoon with music of Saint-Saëns , Korngold, Rachmaninoff, and Weber, accompanied by the Wellesley Symphony. For this concert we are partnering with the Wellesley Food Pantry. Voluntary monetary donations will be gratefully received by a food pantry representative at the concert. Tickets are not required for this opportunity to see and support excellent young soloists, and help those in need this winter. Our next Sunday concert features two great symphonies: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 40, also known as the "Great G minor symphony" and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's epic Symphony No. 5.

Please join us to help celebrate the holiday season, Saturday , December 14 at 2PM at MassBay Community College in Wellesley. A festive program awaits you with music old and new for the whole family. Soprano Rebecca Hains joins us in songs of the season, and narrates “T’was The Night Before Christmas”. The program includes music from "The Nutcracker", Strauss Jr.'s "Emperor Waltz", selections from the movie "Frozen" and much more. Tickets available here and at the door before the concert.

Praised internationally for her expressiveness and strong, secure voice, Rebecca Hains is versatile performer whose engagements have included stage roles such as Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance, International G&S Festival), Phyllis (Iolanthe, International G&S Festival), Marion (The Music Man, Claflin Hill Symphony), and The Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute, Mass Opera). An alumna of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Rebecca received her musical training at Emmanuel College in Boston, where she studied communication and music. As a concert soloist, Rebecca's performances have included Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the New World Chorale, Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate with the Concord Ensemble, and Vivaldi’s Beatus Vir with the Nashua Symphony Orchestra. Additional highlights have included concerts with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra (Gilbert & Sullivan arias in the Passport to England concert); the Longwood Symphony at Jordan Hall (performing music from The Lord of the Rings); Gabriel Faure's motet for soprano, "Pie Jesu" (Requiem, First Congregational Church of Harvard); and many performances with the Paul Madore Chorale, including Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Orff’s Carmina Burana. She has also often performed Handel's Messiah in the northeast and mid-Atlantic. Rebecca has appeared as a soloist in regional musical theater and opera concerts, including the concert series of Longwood Opera, Mass Theatrica, the New England Gilbert and Sullivan Society, New England Light Opera, and Greater Worcester Opera. She has also presented solo recitals at venues including the First Parish of Lexington concert series; the Salem Arts Festival; the Newton Free Library; the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Gettysburg, PA; and the Peabody Institute Library. A professor of media and communication at Salem State University and a 2023-2024 Fulbright Scholar, Rebecca is a frequent soloist at the First Church in Salem, Unitarian Universalist.

From The Americas “Breathe” by Carlos Simon Carlos Simon’s compositional voice has been heard loud and clear in the past several years. In August of 2024, the composer from Washington   released his first full-length orchestral album, Four Symphonic Works , featuring the National Symphony Orchestra. Simon’s album Requiem for the Enslaved  was nominated for the 2023 Grammy Award for “Best Contemporary Classical Composition.” His piece “brea(d)th,” which the New York Times heralded as “the most important commission of Simon’s career so far,” was a response to the murder of George Floyd and, in the words of the composer, “America’s unfulfilled promises and history of systemic oppression against Black Americans.” Opening this afternoon’s concert is Simon’s “Breathe,” a 2021 commission by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. The inspiration for “Breathe”   comes from the writings of Howard Thurman, a renowned theologian, civil rights activist, and mentor of many figures in the civil rights movement, notably Martin Luther King Jr. Thurman’s book, Meditations of the Heart  is a text Simon frequently returns to. As Simon writes, “I was deeply inspired by one section entitled ‘Still Dews of Quietness’, which urges one to ‘stay put for a spell’. Through his [Thurman’s] words, I wanted to take the gesture further by writing a piece that encourages others to simply reflect and breathe.”   Samuel Barber's Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 22, featuring Brent Selby The story of a Western classical composition can so easily focus solely on the composer. In reality, music-making is highly collaborative and involves the participation of many individuals. In the case of Samuel Barber's Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky, the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924-1949, initiated the idea; John Nicholas Brown, a Boston Symphony Orchestra trustee, funded the commission; Samuel Barber composed the piece; cellist Raya Garbousova gave its debut performance. Wanting to showcase Garbousova, a fellow Russian who immigrated to the United States in 1939, Koussevitsky suggested that Barber compose a cello concerto. Barber began the compositional process by asking Garbousova to perform her repertoire to gain an understanding of her style and unique approach to the instrument. Garbousova premiered the piece with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall on April 5, 1946. Despite Barber winning the New York Music Critics’ Circle Award in 1947 for the piece, it has only recently surfaced in the concert hall repertoire. Historians have pointed to its difficulty as a reason it is seldom performed. For instance, Leonard Rose, the famed cello pedagogue, claimed that it was among the most difficult concertos he’d ever attempted; Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Harrell have echoed similar sentiments. The concerto’s technical demands, however, haven’t deterred today’s soloist, Brent Selby (Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Lyric Opera), from performing it for this afternoon’s program.   Symphonic Dances from West Side Story  - Leonard Bernstein When West Side Story  made its Broadway debut on September 26, 1957, it was heralded as a monumental success in mid-century musical theater, revered for its bridging of European and “authentic” American musical stage drama.   Set in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, during the 1950s, the musical is inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet . Many of Leonard Bernstein’s and Stephen Sondheim’s compositions quickly became standards, notably “America,” “I Feel Pretty,” and “Somewhere.” Three years later, Bernstein, along with Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal (the two orchestrators for the Broadway production), began working on a symphonic suite using various excerpts of the larger work for the suite’s individual movements. The two-and-a-half hour-long original stage production of West Side Story  was compressed into a roughly 23-minute instrumental symphonic suite. Pay particular attention to the orchestra’s percussion section throughout the suite. To accentuate the influence of popular dances, Bernstein, Ramin, and Kostal included myriad percussion instruments in the orchestration, particularly those in Latin American dance music. The impressive array of percussion instruments includes bongo, conga, cowbell, glockenspiel, gourd, guiro, maraca, marimba, tam-tam, tambourine, timbale, vibraphone, woodblock, and xylophone. To this day, Bernstein’s place in popular culture remains firm. In 2021, Steven Spielberg directed the third film adaptation of West Side Story , and Maestro , starring Bradley Cooper, was released in 2023 and received seven Academy Awards. ~ James Heazlewood-Dale

Featuring Breathe by Carlos Simon, Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto, featuring Brent Selby, and Symphonic Dances from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. Carlos Simon is the Composer Chair for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and is the Composer in Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Breathe was commissioned in 2021 for the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. Of this piece, Simon writes : One of my favorite books to read and re-read has been Meditations of the Heart written by renowned theologian, Howard Thurman. A spiritual advisor to many including Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurman was a prolific writer and preacher who lived in San Francisco for a large part of his life. Meditations of the Heart is a collection of meditations and prayers on the beauty of humanity. I was deeply inspired by one section entitled “Still Dews of Quietness”, which urges one to “stay put for a spell”. Through his words, I wanted to take the gesture further by writing a piece that encourages others to simply reflect and breathe. We're excited to welcome our cello soloist, Brent Selby , to perform Samuel Barber's   Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra  This work was completed in 1945 and premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1946. When Samuel Barber was asked for a program note for a performance in 1950, he upheld adamantly “the wishes of the composer that no analysis be printed.” On another occasion, Barber stated that the Concerto stands on “its own musical terms, which do not call for verbal description or analysis.” You can see what you think via the above link -- we think it's well worth hearing. Lastly on the program is Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story .   This features nine themes from the iconic musical adapted for large symphony orchestra. The story centers on the star-crossed love despite the deep seated rivalry between two gangs. The musical was an instant hit in 1957 on Broadway and has been performed all over the world. It is recognized for its innovations in dance, music and theatrical style, and has been remade many times over.

“Overture” from La Forza del Destino (The Power of Fate)  - Giuseppe Verdi This afternoon’s performance begins with a popular concert opener: the overture to Giuseppe Verdi’s acclaimed opera, La Forza del Destino (The Power of Fate) . An adaptation of Ángel de Saavedra’s Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , Verdi’s opera about fate tells the story of two star-crossed lovers, Don Alvaro and Donna Leonora. In Verdi’s opera, fate—a theme that is musically represented by the very opening notes of the overture—constantly intervenes throughout the opera, preventing Leonora and Alvaro from being together. After mediocre ticket sales for its performances in Russia, New York, Vienna, Buenos Aires, and London, Verdi was compelled to revise the opera. By the time of its run in Milan’s La Scala in 1869, Verdi had revised the libretto, various scenes, the ending, and, notably for today’s performance, the overture. Despite how frequently the opera is performed today, it has an unusual history of misfortunes. The opera’s premiere at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg was delayed after the soprano who was to perform the role of Donna Leonora became ill. In 1865, after a few years of the opera running, De Saavedra, the author of the source material, died. Almost a century later, in 1960, acclaimed baritone singer Leonard Warren collapsed and died during a performance at the Met. The superstition surrounding the opera deterred the famed tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, from ever performing the opera.   “Fate Now Conquers” - Carlos Simon Ludwig van Beethoven’s output has been the source of inspiration for innumerable pieces of concert music. In the case of Carlos Simon’s composition, “Fate Now Conquers,” it was not just Beethoven’s notes that provided a muse, but his writing. In his journal, Beethoven quotes Homer’s Iliad : “But Fate now conquers; I am hers; and yet not she shall share. In my renown; that life is left to every noble spirit And that some great deed shall beget that all lives shall inherit.” Taking inspiration from this journal entry, Simon composed a five-minute piece that uses the harmonic structure of the second movement from Beethoven’s celebrated seventh symphony. In speaking further about the inspiration for “Fate Now Conquers” and why Beethoven may have quoted such a powerful passage in his journal, Simon notes how Beethoven grappled with various obstacles throughout his lifetime, notably his deafness. Simon sought to represent the great German composer’s desire to prevail over his ailment; however, “In the end, it seems that Beethoven relinquished to fate. Fate now conquers.”   “The Unanswered Question” - Charles Ives The ways in which musical ideas flow across the various instruments in the orchestra is one of the many joys of listening to concert music. Effective orchestration—a compositional technique that concerns how musical ideas are assigned to instruments or instrumental groups—establishes a compelling dialogue between instruments that draws us in as listeners. But how complex can a musical conversation be? How might, for example, a discussion on existentialism unfold? This is something that Connecticut-born composer Charles Ives explores in his piece “The Unanswered Question.” Considered one of the foremost figures of twentieth-century concert music, Ives won the admiration of Gustav Mahler, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Bernard Herrmann, Arnold Schoenberg, and even Frank Zappa. Igor Stravinsky has offered insights into Ives’s compositional influence: “Polytonality; atonality; tone clusters; perspectivistic effects; chance; statistical composition; permutation; add-a-part, practical-joke, and improvisatory music” were “Ives’s discoveries a half-century ago as he quietly set about devouring the contemporary cake before the rest of us even found a seat at the same table.” Yet, it wasn’t until later in his career that Ives received such recognition. He had stopped composing altogether by 1926 and, instead, chose to focus on revising many of his earlier compositions. “The Unanswered Question” is an apt example. Composed in 1908 and revised between 1930 and 1935, “The Unanswered Question” was not performed until 1946. Ives establishes a conversation between the members of the orchestra. Over the subdued string parts, a solo trumpet (Chris Ten Eyck) asks what Ives describes as “The Perennial Question of Existence,” while four woodwind players attempt to respond. As the piece develops, dissonance ensues, reflecting the frustration of the interlocutors. Each of these three instrumental groups—the strings, the solo trumpet, and the woodwinds—perform their parts at different tempos, resulting in a unique rendition of the piece each and every time.   “The Unquestioned Answer” - Cindy McTee Contrast is at the center of Cindy McTee’s “The Unquestioned Answer.” In the words of the composer, “I have always been particularly attracted to the idea that disparate musical elements - tonal and atonal, placid and frenetic - can not only coexist but also illuminate and complement one another.” The aforementioned Charles Ives was one such composer who embraced musical contrast. Drawing from Ives’s work, in McTee’s “The Unquestioned Answer,” consonant string parts contrast with the dissonant brass passages. Here, the instruments engage in a conversation similar to that of the disgruntled members of the ensemble in “The Unanswered Question.”  The work was commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and premiered on November 21, 2010. In addition to being a response to Ives’s work, it also is a tribute to another composer, Elaine Lebenbom, who was the first woman composer to earn a degree from the University of Michigan and who focused on composing pieces that celebrated and reflected the lived experience of Jewish women.   Symphony No. 12  - Dmitri Shostakovich The final piece for this afternoon’s concert is one of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s lesser-recognized symphonies, Symphony No. 12, subtitled The Year 1917. It is a programmatic symphony in that its musical elements (titles, subtitles, structure, and ideas) are informed by extra-musical elements. Shostakovich’s symphony depicts and celebrates Vladimir Lenin’s rise to power. Shostakovich had announced his plans to compose a dedicatory piece to Lenin at various points in his career. While this project was closest to coming to fruition in 1959 (the 90th anniversary of Lenin’s birthday), Shostakovich missed the deadline. It wasn’t until October 1st, 1961, that the symphony was complete, with two performances of the work on the same day: One by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yevgeny Mravinsky and the other a few hours earlier at Kuybyshev by the Kuybyshev State Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Abram Stasevich.               Described as a folk heroic epic, the programmatic symphony has four uninterrupted movements. The first, “Revolutionary Petrograd,” includes several quotations: a revolutionary song and the Polish composition The Warsaw March.  The second movement, “Razliv,” is named after Lenin’s headquarters in Razliv. “Aurora,” the title of the third movement, is the name of the cruiser that fired at the Winter Palace, marking the beginning of the Russian Revolution. The fourth and final movement, “The Dawn of Humanity,” includes a funeral march that transforms into a celebratory theme, reflecting Soviet life under the new leadership of Lenin.   - James Heazlewood-Dale

This season will include music by Giuseppe Verdi, Charles Ives, Dmitri Shostakovitch, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Samuel Barber, and Gustav Mahler with current composers including Carlos Simon and Cindy McTee.  Please note that seating is now general admission, so selecting seats during your ticket purchase is no longer necessary.