The Baylor Symphony Orchestra, multiple winner of the prestigious American Prize for Orchestral Performance, will present its second concert of the 2021-2022 season on Tuesday, October 5, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Jones Concert Hall, which is located within the Glennis McCrary Music Building. This nationally renowned, 86-member orchestra is led by Conductor-in-Residence Stephen Heyde, and its graduate conductor is K. Trey Thompson from Haslet, Texas.
American composer Aaron Copland originally wrote “Paisaje Mexicano” and “Danza de Jalisco” for the Spoleto Music Festival in 1949, but when André Kostelanetz asked him to write a new piece in 1971, Copland composed “Estribillo” and attached it to the two former works to make Three Latin American Sketches. This lively trilogy will open the Baylor Symphony Orchestra’s concert under the baton of Mr. Thompson.
Next, the orchestra will perform Salut d’Amour, Op. 12, by the great British composer Sir Edward Elgar. This melodic work was conceived for violin and piano in 1888 as an engagement gift for his fiancée, Caroline Alice Roberts. Initially, Elgar called it Liebesgrüß (“Love’s Greeting”) as recognition of Miss Roberts’s fluency in German. The composer later orchestrated the piece, and it sold quite well under its new name, Salut d’Amour.
Concluding the program will be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543. This towering work is one of the three symphonies that Mozart composed over a period of several weeks during the spring and summer of 1788. They are Mozart’s crowning achievement as a composer of symphonies and pivotal works in the development of the genre.
The Baylor Symphony Orchestra concert is free of charge and open to the public. It is also available for livestreaming at baylor.edu/music/live.