With just a bow across the strings, the audience will hear it: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s exuberance.
Columbus Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Philip Palermo humbly asks only that the audience listens to him and his mostly volunteer ensemble mates present Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 2 Sunday afternoon at The Commons in downtown Columbus to sense “just the joy of life and the joy of being alive — and not to take for granted what you find immediately around you that otherwise might be considered ordinary. Because, really, everything is extraordinary.”
Palermo, who also serves as the associate concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, is considered pretty extraordinary himself as a top professional musician. But he says all he wants in the weekend performance, titled “Appalachian Homecoming,” is “to be a conduit” for the composer’s glee.
But he also acknowledged that he “considers it a big deal anytime I get the chance to perform.”
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In another portion of the planned, 90-minute spring masterworks program, music director Josh Aerie will lead the group in Aaron Copland’s 1945 ballet work “Appalachian Spring Suite for Orchestra.” The piece includes the well-known Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts.”
Palermo referred to the work as “a very demanding piece — especially for a volunteer orchestra.”
In keeping with the seasonal, journey-oriented theme, the orchestra also will present the seldom-played Felix Mendelssohn’s “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage.”
“It’s a wonderful and evocative tone poem for orchestra,” Aerie said. “It’s evoking the travels of a ship going through rough waters and stormy passages before it arrives safely in port to a hero’s welcome.”
The audience clearly will note the triumphant journey’s end.
“It will be signified by a trumpet fanfare,” Aerie said.
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Who: The mostly volunteer Columbus Symphony Orchestra performing the concert “Appalachian Homecoming.”
When: 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: The Commons, 300 Washington St. in downtown Columbus.
Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens, available at the door or at csoindiana.org. Those younger than 12 are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.
Information: csoindiana.org
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