Terre Haute Symphony Opens Season with Scheherazade Tells Stories
[Terre Haute, IN] – The THSO’s 96th season kicks off this Saturday on September 25, 2021 at 7:30pm with Scheherazade Tells Stories at Tilson Auditorium! Audiences will experience Rimsky-Korsakov’s brilliantly colorful Scheherazade, Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, Wagner’s famous Flight of the Valkyries, and the recognizable Raiders March from the movie Indiana Jones by John Williams.
“I cannot begin to express how excited the THSO is to return as a full orchestra to the Tilson stage this Saturday. After 18 months of performing in different venues throughout Terre Haute with fewer musicians, it is extremely emotional to perform this opening concert with our friends and colleagues!” expressed Executive Director and Principal Clarinet, Samantha Johnson-Helms.
Rimsky-Korsakov brilliantly represents Scheherazade and the tales she told in his piece filled with orchestral color and virtuosity, forging it as one of the most compelling and exciting works ever written. In his program notes for the event, Dan Powers writes that the piece is a symphonic suite loosely based on selected tales from The Thousand and One Nights (sometimes known by the shorter title, Arabian Nights), a collection (actually several collections) of Arabian folk tales that first appeared in Europe beginning in 1704. They were immediately popular and introduced to Western culture such iconic characters as Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin with his magic lamp, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite musically depicts five beautiful stories including Sleeping Beauty, Hop-o’-my-thumb, the Empress of the Pagodas, Beauty & the Beast, and the Fairy Garden. Each of the five movements of the suite was inspired by old French fairy-tales, drawing chiefly on the stories of Charles Perrault and Madame d’Aulnoy. Rather than a complete retelling, each movement in Ravel’s suite is in effect an illustration, depicting a single moment within the story.
Raiders March is one of several John Williams film cues that have become repertory items in the concert hall. It is taken from Williams’s music for Raiders of the Lost Ark’s end credits and features two of the most memorable melodies in the film featuring Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones character.
Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries is one of the most recognizable pieces in the symphonic repertoire. Beginning around 1848 and continuing off and on for the next twenty-six years, Wagner worked on a monumental cycle of four Music Dramas (the term he came to prefer over “operas”) collectively titled The Ring of The Nibelung (or simply “The Ring Cycle” for short). Loosely based on ancient Germanic and Nordic legends, the cast includes Gods, mortals, Rhine Maidens, Valkyries, and so forth, all involved in a struggle over the titular magic ring which grants its wearer dominion over the world. Ride of the Valkyries is heard in Act III of the second opera titled Die Walküre as the curtain rises on the peak of a high mountain. A great storm is brewing. Four of the Valkyries, each bearing the body of a slain warrior, are awaiting the arrival of their sisters, after which they will carry the dead heroes to Valhalla. Soon lightning and thunder announce the entrance of four of the remaining Valkyries, and they greet each other with their distinctive war cry “Hojotoho!”
This concert is proudly sponsored by the Argentum Group of Morgan Stanley, Jack Ragle, Bill Fenoglio and Stephanie Salter, and Old National Bank. The concert is being presented in honor of Laney & Lu Meis for their significant support of the THSO and the arts in our community.
Tickets
Patrons can purchase tickets for the concert by visiting www.thso.org or calling Hulman Center at (812) 237-3737. Ticket prices for adults are $17, $38, and $54. Low-cost student and youth tickets are also available. Prices do not include facility and venue fees.
Masks
Per Indiana State University policy, all patrons will be required to wear a mask while indoors at Tilson Auditorium regardless of vaccination status.
Parking
Patrons may park in the Indiana State Parking garage located at 750 Cherry Street for free between 4pm and 11pm on the day of the concert. This parking garage is located across the street from Tilson Auditorium.
Supper at the Symphony/Concert Conversations
To keep our patrons safe, the THSO will not have a Supper at the Symphony event or host Concert Conversations for the September 25 concert. We hope to hold these two events for our November 6, 2021 concert, Brahms & Beach.
