NSO: Songs of Separation & Romeo and Juliet

Gianandrea Noseda, conductor
J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano
Edvard Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1
“Morning Mood;” “The Death of Åse;” “Anitra’s Dance;” “In the Hall of the Mountain King”
Luciano Berio: Folk Songs
Carlos Simon: Songs of Separation** (WORLD PREMIERE, NSO COMMISSION)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Overture
“If music be the food of love, play on!” Join us for a program inspired by the written word, from epic tales to stories rich in folk flavor.

J’Nai Bridges, praised for her “plush-voiced mezzo-soprano” (The New York Times), joins the NSO for Berio’s timeless Folk Songs and the world premiere of Songs of Separation by Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon—a work inspired by the words of 13th century Persian poet Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī. Gianandrea Noseda also conducts Tchaikovsky’s open-hearted rendering of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Opening the program is Grieg’s suite from his music for Henrik Ibsen’s five-act play Peer Gynt, an eternally popular score featuring the spirited “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”