Join acclaimed cellist Julian Schwarz, and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra for Heart of a New World — an evening that celebrates American creativity and spirit through three distinctive works.

The concert opens with Samuel Barber’s Overture to The School for Scandal, a vibrant piece that crackles with wit and energy. Its rhythmic drive and melodic brightness capture Barber’s distinctive American voice at its most engaging.

Cellist Julian Schwarz then performs Jennifer Higdon’s Cello Concerto, a Pulitzer Prize-winning work by one of today’s most celebrated composers. Higdon creates a sound world that’s both lyrical and intensely expressive, offering the soloist opportunities for both technical brilliance and deep emotional connection.

The evening closes with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World.” Composed during his years in America, this symphony weaves together Czech folk traditions with the musical landscapes Dvořák discovered here. The result is music that feels both nostalgic and forward-looking — a work about exploration, inspiration, and finding home in unfamiliar territory.

This is a night that brings together past and present, celebrating what happens when artists embrace new horizons. We look forward to seeing you there.

Read more about this concert in the program notes here.

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.