A Day at the Symphony

It’s the 2001 Space Odyssey opener, dummy, at Symphony Hall on Friday, 25 October 2024.

An early afternoon program, including a Liszt piano concerto with Jean-Yves Thibaudet and a premiere of Hannah Kendall’s “O flower of fire”

You didn’t have to be gray-haired and long since retired to attend, but it didn’t hurt.

Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix

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Hump Nights

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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️ Hump Nights 〰️

Hump Nights

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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix

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Hump Nights 〰️ Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️

“O flower of fire”

Hannah Kendall is a British composer, based in New York, who arrived in Boston to premiere her new work “O flower of fire.” The piece pairs well with edge-of-modernity classics of the western canon, using a full orchestra with more or less conventional instrumentation besides combs, which were played like mouth harps.

Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 2 in A

Shout out to Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s jacket, which shined and sparkled like the belly of a rainbow trout fished fresh from the river. Or sea? We may never know where rainbow trouts are from.

Strauss, Thus Spake Zarathustra

Yes, yes, yes. You know this short theme from its inclusion in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey. What you didn’t know is that, after the theme runs its course in about two minutes, the composition keeps on trucking for another 33 minutes. Another 33 glorious minutes. And the crowd went wild.

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Photo Gallery

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