Metro Collection At Randolph-Macon College Finishes Season With Handel, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Mozart, 4/30

Join the Richmond Symphony and Associate Conductor Chia-Hsuan Lin on Sunday, April 30 at 3pm for a Metro Collection concert including chamber pieces by Handel, Stravinsky, Beethoven and Mozart. All Metro Collection concerts are held in the Blackwell Auditorium on the Randolph-Macon College campus.

The concert begins with the prelude "Entrance of the Queen of Sheba" from Handel's oratorio, Solomon. Solomon is a bright and lively piece that tells various stories from the life of Israel's king Solomon, taken from the First Book of Kings and the Second Book of Chronicles in the Bible.

Danses concertantes was Stravinsky's first major work composed after he moved to the United States in 1939. Staying true to his neoclassical style, the chamber piece is full of quick character changes and crisp rhythms. He wrote the piece purely as an orchestral work, but it was later choreographed as a ballet by George Balanchine.

Following Stravinsky will be Beethoven's Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Opus 43. The ballet, which first premiered in the 1800s, revolves around a couple who have been formed out of clay and develop the powers of reasoning and feeling when introduced to music. The ballet is rarely performed today, but the overture is a common staple of the orchestral repertoire.

Mozart's Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551, "Jupiter" will conclude the concert. Considered his most complex symphony, the piece is known for its exuberant energy filled with clever interlacing melodies and occasional passionate outbursts.

Ticket are $22 for adults, $20 for seniors, $12 for children and $5 at the door for college students and faculty with ID. Purchase tickets online at richmondsymphony.com or by calling 1.800.514.ETIX. A free pre-concert talk will be held from 2 - 2:30pm in the Dollar Tree Community Room on the second floor of Brock Commons across from the Blackwell Auditorium.

The concert is sponsored by The Arts Council at Randolph-Macon College and Ralph Crosby.

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