Gerard Schwarz, conductor 

PROGRAM 

COPLAND: Symphonic Ode 

BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor (Student Soloist TBA)

BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique 

Aaron Copland’s Symphonic Ode was dedicated to his great champion Serge Koussevitzky and launches the evening with broad sonorities and the rhythmic swagger that signaled a new American voice in 20th‑century orchestral writing.

From this bracing opener we turn to romantic lyricism with  Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, a work whose soaring melodies and gypsy‑tinged finale have made it a favorite since 1868. 

The program closes with  Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, still electrifying nearly two centuries after its premiere. Berlioz deploys an enlarged orchestra, daring harmonies, and the famous “idée fixe” to chart an artist’s opium‑fueled descent from ardent love to macabre hallucination.

From Copland’s bright modernism through Bruch’s romanticism to Berlioz’s revolutionary imagination, the concert traces the symphony’s power to mirror the boldest hopes and darkest dreams of the human spirit.

SAT / FEB 7, 2026 / 7:30 P.M.

UM Gusman Concert Hall

$30  $25  $15