The CSO and CSO Chorus perform the energetic and rhythm-driven Polovtsian Dances from the opera Prince Igor.

Serenade lets us know that Bernstein was a musical authority in the concert hall as well as on Broadway. Violinist Frank Almond, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster, takes on what Orrin Howard, former director of publications at the LA Philharmonic calls ‘the athletic and expressive violinistics’ of the piece.

After seeing Irish actress Harriet Smithson in a Shakespeare play, Berlioz became consumed with writing his Symphonie Fantastique to gain her attention. After a very unusual proposal they married in 1833.