This March 5th, the St. Augustine Orchestra will focus its Spring Masterworks concert on lively, energetic music composed for operas and ballets from composers Antonin Dvorak, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Borodin and Aaron Copland.
The audience will be carried away by the musical energy of Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from the Opera Prince Igor; to Rimsky-Korsakov’s Dance of the Tumblers from the Snow Maiden, as well as Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances that established his international reputation immediately after they were performed in the 1880s. The concert will also include the work of the ‘dean’ of American composers, Aaron Copland, with the Orchestra performing Rodeo, originally conceived as a ‘cowboy ballet’.
“We are delighted with this selection of music that has the energetic, athletic, vigorous qualities of dances,” said Artistic Director Scott Gregg. “Copland’s Rodeo, for example, was ground-breaking at the time, considered one of the earliest examples of a truly American ballet, combining the exuberance of a Broadway musical with the disciplines of classical ballet,” he said.
While there are no dancers performing onstage, the rhythmically spirited pieces will have the audience swaying in their seats.
The evening concert will be held Thursday, March 5th at the Lightner Museum, in St. Augustine using the 25 Granada Street entrance. It starts at 8:00 pm with the doors opening at 7:30 for general admission seating. Tickets are available at https://staugustineorchestra.ticketleap.com/symphonic-dances/. They are $27.50 for adults; $12 for youth age 11-17; and free for children 10 and under.
The St. Augustine Orchestra just won FOLIO Weekly Magazine’s Best Large Band/Orchestra Award in its Best of St. Augustine 2020 Awards, which are voted on by the public. This is the second year in a row it has won this honor. More information on the Orchestra can be found at https://staugustineorchestra.org/.