Music by and inspired by fantastic women
Holly Mulcahy
ARTISTS
Gregory Hughes Conductor
Holly Mulcahy Violin
PROGRAM
SMYTH: The Wreckers Overture
CLINTON: The Rose of Sonora - CHICAGO PREMIERE!
BERLIOZ: Symphonie Fantastique
“You’re on the edge of your seat!”
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WHAT’S INTERESTING ABOUT THIS CONCERT
Each piece on this program is by or about an amazing woman, starting with The Wreckers Overture by British suffragette and the first female composer to ever be awarded damehood, Ethel Smyth.
George S. Clinton’s (you’ve probably heard his movie scores like Austin Powers) piece The Rose of Sonora, a violin concerto in five scenes, is like a movie soundtrack minus the movie. It tells the story of Rose, a female outlaw in the Old West. The piece invites you to listen along and imagine your own mental movie.
Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique is a musical depiction of the composer’s own opium-fueled hallucinations about his unrequited love for actress Harriet Smithson. The plot of the symphony is pretty trippy, but it makes for some fantastically exciting music! Symphonie fantastique is consistently ranked as one of the top ten greatest symphonies of all time.