Tune in to watch a free broadcast, live from the Klein Music Tent. 

See the conducting stars of tomorrow in these engaging concerts where student conductors rotate between conducting a movement of a work, or playing in the orchestra. Program Director and AMFS Music Director Robert Spano observes the work of his students at this weekly event.

Hear this summer’s Low Brass Competition winner and Shostakovich’s richly orchestrated 5th symphony!

Composer Nico Muhly describes Bright Idea as “a fast and energetic piece...I thought it would be appropriate to start the piece with the musicians closest to...the podium—the inside stands of strings—before letting the music spread out into the rest of the ensemble. The piece is structured as a series of physical gestures, ranging from a single high note in a single violin exploding downwards into the full orchestra, a chord suddenly frozen in time, or a perpetual-motion machine played by the woodwinds. I treat the orchestra like a single body moving through a series of bright and sonically intense spaces, sometimes taking time to look around, and other times racing through and catching glimpses of things in the distance and in the extreme foreground. I wanted to make sure the listener’s focal point is constantly shifting, so instead of zooming in on one instrument for a prolonged passage, the ear races around the orchestra with, I hope, a sense of joy and discovery.”

When Shostakovich was in his late twenties, his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was a smash hit. At one time, three different productions were running in Moscow. Then Stalin himself went to a performance. Offended by the luridness of the plot, he had the state newspaper condemn the work, and it disappeared overnight. Shostakovich was terrified that he too would disappear, and he kept a suitcase packed at all times in case of arrest. His 5th Symphony was an attempt to redeem himself in the eyes of the authorities, and he dubbed it “A Soviet Artist's Response to Just Criticism." Even while you’re swept away by the crowd-pleasing tunes and a sense of heroism, you may also notice an undercurrent of cynicism and despair. Shostakovich apparently remarked, "The rejoicing is forced, created under threat. It’s as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, ‘Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing …"