Friday, January 24, 2025 Sunday, January 26, 2025     Is there a more famous or beloved opera than Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece La bohème? After a somewhat hesitant audience reception at its premiere in Turin in 1896, led by the great Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, it has gone on to be performed everywhere. Bohème is listed… Read More

Giacomo Puccini     La bohème     Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy on December 22, 1858, and died in Brussels, Belgium on November 29, 1924 La bohèmewas first heard on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio in Torino (Turin), Italy with Arturo Toscanini on the podium. It is scored for 2 flutes, piccolo,… Read More

Sunday, November 10, 2024 As we continue the PSO’s centennial celebration, this program brings to our attention the brilliant principal players of the orchestra.  Variaciones concertantes by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) was written at a time when the composer’s conflict with the Perón régime caused him great hardship. Friends in other parts of the… Read More

Alberto Ginastera Variaciones concertantes, Op. 23 Alberto Ginastera was born in 1916 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and died in 1983 in Geneva, Switzerland. He composed this work in 1953 on a commission from the Asociación Amigos de la Música in Buenos Aires, and it was first performed in that city the same year under the… Read More

Thursday, October 10, 2024 This gala celebrates so much: Yo-Yo Ma’s first solo appearance with the PSO, the PSO’s hundred years of existence, and the eager, faithful and generous support of Portland audiences. It is the audiences who make the PSO’s milestone possible, and the milestone warrants the appearance of classical music’s most celebrated instrumentalist…. Read More

Sydney Guillaume Lavil Okap Sydney Guillaume was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti on July 22, 1982. He now lives in California. Lavil Okap was first heard on April 1, 2023 in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti with the musicians of the Haitian Orchestra Institute under the composer’s direction. It is scored for 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, 2… Read More

Sunday, September 22, 2024 Tuesday, September 24, 2024   Founded in 1924 as Portland’s Amateur Strand Symphony Orchestra, the Portland Symphony Orchestra has come a great distance in a hundred years. With the community’s support, we have become a fully professional orchestra that is one of Maine’s largest arts organizations, with 83 contracted musicians and… Read More

Anna Clyne Quarter Days Anna Clyne was born in London, England on March 9, 1980. She now lives in the United States. Quarter Days was first heard on October 23, 2023 performed by the South Bend Symphony Orchestra with Alastair Willis on the podium. It is scored for 2 flutes (second doubling on piccolo), 2… Read More

Tuesday, June 18, 2024   Selecting a symphonic program to honor Pride Month means choosing from an embarrassment of riches. Along with the composers heard tonight, who either identified as LGBTQ or tried hard to conceal this  status, a conservative list would also include Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Jennifer Higdon, John Cage, and Francis… Read More