Beyond the Forest, Into the Sky takes you on one of the most dramatically satisfying journeys in the orchestral repertoire — from shadow and enchantment to open, blazing light.

The evening opens in the dark heart of a fairy tale. Humperdinck’s luminous Prelude to Hänsel und Gretel casts its spell before Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor seizes the room — restless, urgent, and searingly alive. This is Mozart at his most turbulent, music that never quite lets you breathe.

Then the world opens up.

Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral — one of the most breathtaking works written for orchestra in the last 30 years — fills the hall with light and space and grief and wonder all at once. And Stravinsky’s suite from The Firebird brings the evening to a close in triumph, its final pages among the most electrifying in all of music.

This is a program for first-timers and lifelong listeners alike — the kind of night that reminds you why live orchestral music is unlike anything else on earth.