Music Director Amy Andreassen joined us on KSMU's "Arts News" to talk about the orchestra's upcoming presentation, "Extremes," on Thursday March 30 at 7:30 p.m. at The Barley House at Moon Town Crossing, 3060 North Kentwood Avenue.
The concert will feature a single work, the Symphony No. 5 of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. It runs about 50 minutes. Andreassen says, "We try to hold our performances to an hour or less."
As for the concert's title "Extremes," she says she chose it "because Shostakovich, in this piece, was all about extremes: extremely slow, extremely fast, extremely high, extremely low. The members of our orchestra are looking so forward to playing this piece. It's a monumental work."
And it's one of the most immediately approachable, attractive works among Shostakovich's 15 symphonies.
"He's all about the 'hidden messages' in his music. You're always wondering about (this piece): Is it happy? Is it not? It's an amazing work, and one that should be played more often," according to Amy Andreassen.
You can arrive early at 6:30 p.m. for a pre-concert cocktail and social hour. Andreassen recommends early arrival anyway, as the venue's seating capacity is limited, though they keep putting out more and more chairs for each Missouri Philharmonic performance.
For more information, visit missouriphilharmonic.org or call 417-849-5930.