Sarasota Orchestra offers ‘Musical Postcards’ in final Discoveries series concert

For its final Discoveries series concert of the season, the Sarasota Orchestra is sending “Musical Postcards” to the audience.

The concert, at 7:30 p.m. May 13 in the Sarasota Opera House, is meant to give listeners a sense of how the composers featured were inspired by the places they visited.

“It’s the influences of these places, how influence runs together and inspires composers of different time periods,” said guest conductor Joseph Young, who is making his Sarasota Orchestra debut with the program.

The program offers a bit of time traveling as the musical influences shift from Italy to Brazil and Spain.

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it features Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos’ “Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9,” Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” and Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, known as the “Italian.”

“I want people to hear Mendelssohn and understand his journey on his trip to Italy and his excitement about the people in the country,” Young said. “And we’re transporting people to Spain to a garden in Aranjuez that inspired Rodrigo. And Villa-Lobos was inspired by Bach and also by his own country, so it celebrates both. He thought if Bach was from Brazil this is what Bachianas would sound like.”

The Orchestra is joined by Korean guitarist Bokyung Byun, who will be playing Rodrigo’s concerto. Byun is the first female winner of the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition.

Attracting new audiences to classical music

Discoveries concerts run just about one hour and are meant to be relatable and accessible both for people who are accustomed to classical music concerts and those who have never been.

“I think this concert is bringing all these different perspectives in one collective place. This concert is the musical version of being relatable,” Young said. “The approach is to create a balance for people who come to concerts all the time and someone who is new to classical music. We want to know that aficionados and newcomers had a great time, did they learn something. We’re passionate about finding that shared connection with the audience.”

Young said the concert is intended to show that “classical music is for everyone. Every institution has to figure out a way to do that.”

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He is particularly interested in “how we celebrate all of us coming together and that’s what’s interesting about this Discoveries program, not only discovering the music, but we hope it’s also people discovering each other. The concert hall is a communal place and we want to bring back the idea of using that communal space for all of us to learn about the music.”

Young is the music director of the Berkeley Symphony, Artistic Director of Ensembles for the Peabody Conservatory, and the resident conductor of the National Youth Orchestra – USA at Carnegie Hall.

He said he works to “find musical gems within each orchestra. Each one is completely different. I find myself enjoying exploring the same music with different people and finding different things within the music. I just enjoy running around working with different groups of people.”

“Musical Postcards” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. May 13 in the Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. Tickets are $32-$70. For more information: 941-953-3434; sarasotaorchestra.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Orchestra travels the world in ‘Musical Postcards’ concert