Florida State University’s College of Music presents a collaborative performance from the University Philharmonia and the University Singers, a dramatic piece that focuses on the environment.
“Earth Symphony” by Jake Runestad, an Emmy winner and Grammy-nominated composer with libretto by Todd Boss, will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 12 at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall.
The five-part choral symphony explores “our own ecological shame, guilt, responsibility, potential and redemption, all from a wide-angled, time-telescoped lens, thereby asking our most immediately pressing environmental questions in an entirely new way,” said Kevin Fenton, music director and conductor of University Singers. “The collaboration between ensembles will surely be an exciting performance for both the audience and musicians.”
Alexander Roes, a First Violin section member of the University Philharmonia, said he is “particularly excited” about the performance “because it gives us the opportunity to perform with the University Singers.”
“The rich orchestrations and choral treatment create emotional responses much in the manner of movie soundtracks like ‘Star Wars’ that pair the same forces,” said Gregory Jones, associate dean of the FSU College of Music. “I know audiences will immediately be pulled into this amazingly dramatic work.”
The University Philharmonia will also perform Beethoven’s “Coriolan Overture,” Georges Bizet’s “Carmen Suite No. 1” and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “The Bamboula-A Rhapsodic Dance.”
“We are looking forward to a delightful smorgasbord of orchestral favorites and one work, by English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, that has every reason to become an audience favorite,” said Alexander Jiménez, music director and conductor of the University Philharmonia.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit tickets.music.fsu.edu.
