Celebrate the evening of Friday, May 31, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. with The Rochester Symphony Orchestra (RSO) directed by Conductor and Music Director Zeljko Milicevic. Do not miss a tribute to the “Grand Canyon Suite” by Ferdi Grofé and the performance of the Young Artist Competition winner, violinist Matthew Xu. The Symphony will perform at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 620 Romeo Road, Rochester, Michigan.
 
The evening begins with “Carnival Overture” by Antonín Dvorák. The “Carnival Overture” was written in 1891. It was the second of a three-overture cycle, “Nature, Life, and Love.” Life (Carnival), as it was originally called, portrayed life as a vast carnival.
 
“The Moldau”, composed by Bedrich Smetana, is a Bohemian symphonic poem that evokes the flow of the Vltava River, or, in German, the Moldau from its source in the mountains to the city of Prague.
 
One of the most famous and enduring pieces of music inspired by the Grand Canyon is Ferdi Grofé’s “Grand Canyon Suite,” composed between 1929 and 1931. It was initially titled “Five Pictures of the Grand Canyon” consisting of five movements. The five movements are “Sunrise, Painted Desert, On the Trail, Sunset, and Cloudburst.”  In 2000, the National Public Radio named Grand Canyon Suite one of the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th Century.
 
The winner of the Young Artist Competition is always celebrated each May. This year we congratulate the 2024 winner, Matthew Xu. Matt is from Rockville, Maryland, and a sophomore at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, pursuing dual degrees in Computer Science and Violin Performance. He will perform “The First Movement from the Korngold Violin Concerto” the night of the concert.
 
This amazingly beautiful concert will be performed on Friday, May 31,2024 at 8:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 620 Romeo Road, Rochester, Michigan.

Tickets are $30 for Adults and $5 for Students and can be purchased at 248-651-4181 or visit us on our website at https://www.rochestersymphony.com/event/what-a-wonderful-world/.