Fantastic Symphony: Frost Symphony Orchestra

A sweeping orchestral program moves from American modernism to Romantic virtuosity and finally into one of music’s most vivid psychological journeys. Led by conductor Gerard Schwarz, the Frost Symphony Orchestra presents a concert that highlights how composers across eras have used the symphony to explore imagination, emotion and narrative.

The evening opens with Aaron Copland’s Symphonic Ode, a work marked by expansive textures and rhythmic confidence that helped define a distinctly American orchestral voice. Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor follows, featuring soloist Haoge Wang in a piece celebrated for its lyrical intensity and expressive sweep. The program concludes with Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, a landmark of 19th-century music whose bold orchestration and recurring “idée fixe” trace an artist’s hallucinatory descent with striking dramatic force.

Fantastic Symphony: Frost Symphony Orchestra takes place Saturday, February 7 at UM Gusman Concert Hall. The performance is part of the Frost School of Music’s Signature Events lineup for the 2025–2026 season, spotlighting major works of the orchestral repertoire through accomplished faculty leadership and student musicianship.