Join us for a celebration of music inspired by birds, from Hungarian, Finnish and Italian composers. Kodaly's "Variations on the Peacock" is based on an ancient Hungarian melody which was only re-discovered in 1937. Einojuhani Rautavaara subtitled his Cantus Arcticus with "Concerto for Birds and Orchestra". Kuolema is incidental music to a play of the same name written by Arvid Järnefelt. We are playing the "Valse triste" (the most performed of the set) and "Scene with Cranes", which wasn't published until 16 years after his death. Our finale is the spectacular tone poem "The Pines of Rome", which takes us on a tour around Rome drawing inspiration not just from the pine trees in the title, but also playing children, graveyards, and (of course) birds.
