UA News

The Arizona Symphony Orchestra will present its spring concert  under the baton of Thomas Cockrell and Rogers Institute conductors Keitaro Harada and Jackson Warren. The program will include  Ludwig van Beethoven's "Overture to Egmont," Maurice Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin" and Dmitry Shostakovich's "Symphony No. 1."

Beethoven was inspired to write his "Overture to Egmont" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play about political oppression, and the music convincingly captures the spirit of human struggle and liberation.  Ravel's "Tombeau" is a homage to ancient dance forms, and the result is a masterpiece that melds Baroque sensibility with modern harmonies and virtuosic orchestral writing. Shostakovich completed his first symphony while still a teenager. The work is chamber in size and scope and considered one of his first masterpieces.