The Orchestra adventures through swashbuckling, fantastical classics in this concert, which features John Williams’ iconic Star Wars soundtrack, Strauss’ ebullient symphonic tone poem of the infamous libertine, Don Juan, and Korngold’s soundtrack to the 1940 film, Sea Hawk. Carlos Simon’s “Tap,” a study of the tap dance and its origins in the social climate of American slavery, and Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” written in response to the US entry in World War 2 and now embedded in popular culture, remind us of how art can transform historical realities. Rounding out the program is Bernard Rands’ Symphonic Fantasy, a one-movement work dedicated to Music Director William Boughton.
Richard Strauss - Don Juan
Bernard Rands - Symphonic Fantasy
Aaron Copland “Fanfare for the Common Man”
Erich Korngold - Sea Hawk Overture
Carlos Simon - “Tap” from Four Black American Dances
John Williams “Star Wars” Suite
The 24/25 Woolsey Series is generously supported by the Daniel Feller ’74 Yale Symphony Endowment Fund in Honor of John Mauceri (Music Director 1968-74).