Projects

Long before music was written down, it was passed from one person to another. Sung in kitchens, carried across fields, shared at celebrations, and remembered on long journeys home, folk melodies have served as living archives of human experience. At the heart of our program is Ernest MacMillan's Two Sketches on French Canadian Airs, a work that draws upon traditional melodies collected from French Canadian communities. From there, the program journeys through Grieg's evocation of Norwegian folk traditions, the dance music of Ireland, the folk songs of northern China, and the Roma inspired melodies that captivated Brahms. Many of these tunes began not in concert halls but in everyday life. They were sung by workers, travelers, families, and communities whose stories might otherwise have been lost to history. Passed from hand to hand and ear to ear, they connect us not only to distant places, but also to the generations of people who sang, played, and cherished them before us.

Dance Music Through the Ages traces a centuries-long thread of rhythm, celebration, and communal joy, beginning with the elegant court dances of Bach and Strauss and winding its way through American swing halls, tango parlors, folk traditions, Broadway, Motown, and the pop anthems of today. Though separated by oceans, languages, and generations, these dances reveal a surprisingly familiar impulse: whenever people make music, sooner or later, someone starts dancing. A gavotte in eighteenth-century Germany, a polka in Vienna, a juba dance shaped by African American traditions, a tango, a swing tune, a folk song, and a disco hit all emerged from distinct cultural moments, yet they speak the same musical language of energy, connection, and shared experience. The steps may change, but the instinct remains.

Music has long possessed a kind of cinematic magic. It casts long shadows, shifts the spotlight, and summons entire worlds from sound. This program explores that remarkable ability to transform atmosphere. From the elegant drama of Haydn to the theatrical wit of Britten, each work reveals a different way music captures character, motion, and emotion. Some draw us into moments of quiet tension, others burst forward with theatrical brilliance, but all invite us to experience stories that unfold without a single spoken word. Together, these pieces remind us that some of the most vivid stories are the ones we imagine for ourselves.