Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra: Invitation to the Dance

Join the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor, David Upham of the University of New Hampshire, for the final concert of its 2010-2011 season in a performance featuring Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite.

The three pieces on the program represent different styles of symphonic dance music. The program opens with Leonard Bernstein’s second ballet, titled Facsimile, composed in 1946. The music tells the story of a love triangle between a single woman and her two lovers, portraying the isolation and loneliness that Bernstein felt pervaded life in post-WW II New York. The Bernstein is followed by Danzon No. 2, by Mexican composer Arturo Marquez, which has rapidly become an audience favorite with its infectious rhythms and sensuous melodies. The program closes with a suite of pieces from Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet, Swan Lake. Rather than adopt one of the published suites from the ballet, the symphony will perform a collection of movements that, while adhering to the plot and great drama of the ballet, also features many of the work’s most famous melodies and dances.

Enjoy a pre-concert discussion at 2 p.m. in The Music Hall’s Historic Theater. Free to ticketholders!