Nicknamed for the king of the Roman gods, Mozart’s iconic final symphony is full of striking drama and moments of musical perfection, regarded by many as among the greatest symphonies in classical music. Brilliant, expansive, and radiant with clarity, it channels complexity into grace, reconciling tension with poise.

This program opens with Missy Mazzoli’s Music for Orbiting Spheres: “music in the shape of a solar system.” With pulsing rhythms and luminous textures, it evokes both the mystery and the inevitability of celestial motion—a sound world both mechanical and strangely human.

Bridging the span from cosmic to psychological is Barber’s Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance. Based on Euripides’ tragic heroine, the piece traces a descent from brooding stillness into violent release. Medea’s fury feels at once mythic and disturbingly human—an emotional orbit governed not by reason, but by primal urge and near-mechanical compulsion. There’s no redemption here, only the spiraling gravity of vengeance.

PROGRAM:

MISSY MAZZOLI Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)

BARBER Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance

MOZART Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter”

FEATURING:

David Amado, guest conductor