To conclude our anniversary season London composer David Osbon will join us for his wonderful Nelson Overture! in honor of Admiral Lord Nelson (killed at the battle of Trafalgar, which he won).   The concert continues with African-American composer William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1, the ‘Afro-American Symphony’ the 2^ndperformance of this piece by the SSO.  It is a most popular work in the US due to its unique scherzo, which includes a banjo in the orchestration!  The symphony is jazzy and bluesy while at the same time being a moving statement from 1931.

The remainder of the concert will be comprised of works by English composers.  Grainger’s Irish Tune from County Derry for strings and French horns was the first tune Maestro Bair learned to love as an elementary student.  Sir Malcolm Arnold’s Anniversary Overturereceives its 2^nd performance by the SSO, performed this season to commemorate our 40^th season!  Arnold wrote a work for brass band in honor of Padstow’s new lifeboat.  The local brass band played this march – Padstow Lifeboat - on the quay during the launching of the lifeboat!  The use of the sound of a foghorn  in this march, in the wrong key, provides moments of comedy.  Local piano phenom, 15 year-old Kara Iwanowski, and the SSO will perform Arnold’s Ballade the film‘Stolen Face’.   This is wonderful film music taking us back to a golden age of film in the middle of the last century.  The concert, and our 40^thseason, will conclude with one of the greatest marches ever written: Sir William Walton’s Crown Imperial, Coronation March!

Our May concert is our annual Side-by-Side concert at which we invite the most talented young musicians from the Harford Youth Orchestra to sit alongside seasoned adults for a truly unique musical experience, an education for them and a fresh addition for us all.