Symphony 101 Gets to the Heart of Music

Rochester, NY – The power of music to evoke the full range of human emotion will be the subject of this season’s six Symphony 101 concerts by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.  Music Director Christopher Seaman opens the series with “Reflections of the Past” on Friday, October 13, in the Performance Hall at Hochstein at 7:30 p.m., leading the orchestra in music and audience discussion about how composers interpret music of the past, present or future through the lens of emotion.  The concert will repeat on Sunday, October 15 at 2:00 p.m. in the Hale Auditorium, Roberts Cultural Life Center at Roberts Wesleyan College. 

Beginning with 17th century composer Jean Baptiste Lully’s Overture from his Suite for Orchestra through individual movements from the music of nine other composers through the centuries including Bach, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Elgar, Brahms, Ravel, Stravinsky, Britten and John Corigliano, the RPO will demonstrate some of the techniques these composers used to express feelings and experiences. 

Music Director Seaman leads these engaging and innovative Symphony 101 concerts that feature discussion, musical examples, selections from significant works and complete pieces. Following each concert, Mr. Seaman takes questions from the audience.

General admission tickets for these performances are $22, available online 24/7 at www.rpo.org, by phone (454-2100) and in person from the RPO Box Office, and at all Wegmans Video Departments. RPO Box Office Hours are Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (non-concert Saturdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.). The Wegmans Video Department is open seven days a week, 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. A convenience fee may apply.

The Symphony 101 Series is sponsored by PAETEC Communications, Inc. Additional support for this series is provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and The New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

RPO performances are made possible in part with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; the State of New York; Monroe County; the City of Rochester; and American Airlines, the official airline of the RPO.