“Vibrant Echoes,” Mississippi Symphony Orchestra’s final chamber concert of the season, April 27 at Tougaloo College’s Woodworth Chapel, celebrates the rhythmic thread of Black musical traditions and influences in America, from the late 19th century clear through to contemporary times. Its relevant setting, at the historically Black college that played a key role in America’s civil rights struggle, enhances the resonance.
Joel Thompson’s Seven Last Words of the Unarmed is a searing reach into the human heart and a powerful cry for social justice. The Atlanta-based composer’s choral work is the centerpiece for MSO’s “Symphony in the Community” spring concert, 3 p.m. Sunday, April 21, at Cade Chapel M.B. Church in Jackson. Giving it voice is the 55-member-strong Mississippi Valley State University Choir, led by MVSU Director of Choral Activities Brandon Cash.
Dannel Espinoza was just a tyke when he started the path that would become his forte. His parents offered the option of karate, baseball or piano when he was 3 1/2 or 4. “I decided to take up piano,” he said. The instrument became a staple of his south Florida childhood, until he reached school band age, took after his older brother, and took up the saxophone.
When Mississippi Symphony Orchestra Principal Clarinet Ken Graves steps into the solo spotlight in Bravo-IV’s “Alluvial Soundscapes” March 9 concert, he’ll deliver an Aaron Copland concerto that’s among the instrument’s greatest hits.
Mississippi Symphony Orchestra Principal Timpanist Bud Berthold is the centerpiece of MSO’s February 24 “Striking Surprises” concert, 7:30 p.m. at St. James’ Episcopal Church, in Jackson.
Mississippi Symphony Orchestra’s “Heart Beats” Pops concert February 10 ramps up the romance with a lineup that celebrates love in all its richness, rapture, pang and promise.
A bright gaze ahead and a poignant look back — local composer James Sclater’s new concerto celebrating Shellie Brown Kemp’s rise to concertmaster with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra ties past with present in a stirring tribute.
Mississippi Symphony Orchestra’s “Mozart & Friends by Candlelight” concert, January 13 at Belhaven University Center for Arts, widens the spotlight to shine on the composer’s contemporaries as well, bringing in a fresh take for this popular annual chamber concert.
The rhythm, the lyricism and the gamut of emotion that great poetry evokes are the very characteristics that make verse a great partner in music performance, and Mississippi Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming “American Constellation” Bravo Series concert sets a sterling example, on November 4 at Thalia Mara Hall.
MSO’s 79th season sees its Matinee Series occupying a more formal spot on the 2023-24 lineup, with fall and spring “Symphony in the Community” concerts that reach directly into Cade Chapel’s west Jackson neighborhood and forge ties with Jackson artists and the music they create right here in the capital city.
