Mobile Symphony’s Calm Seas Honors Dr. Andrew Harper,
April 2 & 3
It’s smooth sailing for the Mobile Symphony Orchestra (MSO) in Calm Seas, Saturday, April 2, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, April 3, at 2:30 p.m., at Mobile’s historic Saenger Theatre. The University of South Alabama Concert Choir and Mobile Opera Chorus join the orchestra to perform a hidden Beethoven gem: Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage.
The concert opens with Béla Bartók’s rollicking Romanian Folk Dances, based on traditional tunes from Transylvania, and comes to a triumphant conclusion with Joseph Haydn’s brilliant London Symphony.
This concert is performed in memory of Dr. Andrew Harper, longtime chairman of the Music Department at the University of South Alabama, founder and conductor of the Port City Symphony and lifelong promoter of classical music.
“Last year we lost a great friend of music in Andy Harper. Andy was the founder of the Port City Symphony, our predecessor, and an unfailingly enthusiastic booster for our organization,” Scott Speck, music director, explains. “In many ways Andy’s influence can still be felt in the warmth and exuberance of the MSO. We are playing this concert in his honor and featuring two of his favorite pieces – Bartók’s Romanian Dances and Haydn’s Symphony No. 104. And we’ll have the help of the USA Concert Choir in a lovely, seldom-heard work of Beethoven.”
Tickets are on sale now for $20-$89. Student tickets are $10. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone at 251-432-2010 or at the symphony box office, 257 Dauphin Street. Through MSO’s Big Red Ticket program, sponsored by the Alabama Power Foundation, students in grades K-12 can attend any of the season’s six classical Sunday performances for free when accompanied by a paying adult (excludes special events like the annual holiday concert). More details can be found online at mobilesymphony.org.
Based on new CDC guidance and decline in COVID cases in our area, masks will not be required at these performances. The MSO will continue to welcome and encourage masks, particularly for those in high-risk populations. Updates to COVID-19 safety policies will be posted on the website: mobilesymphony.org.
Sponsors are the University of South Alabama and Andra Bohnet.
All concerts have been made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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