The SSU Symphony Orchestra honors Earth Day with its April 22 concert, entitled Songs of the Earth. The 7:30 pm performance in Weill Hall will feature the world premiere of Moritūra Terra, the prize-winning work from the orchestra’s inaugural composition contest held in January. Alexander Kahn conducts.
Moritūra Terra, (Latin for “Dying Earth”) composed by second year Music and Computer Science major Cameron Kaiser, is a lament on the perils that planet Earth is experiencing due to climate change. Written for string orchestra, Kaiser says he used the lush sound of the low strings to embody the Earth along with an expansive melodic line representing humanity and its endeavors. “While it is true the Earth will live on without us, I think that much like the relationship between the melody and harmony in my piece, together we are something more,” Kaiser said. The contest entries were judged anonymously by Alexander Kahn, department chair Brian S. Wilson, and conductor/composer John Kennedy of Santa Clara University.
The Nature theme continues with Anatoly Liadov’s Eight Russian Folk Songs, depicting peaceful rural scenes from nineteenth-century Russia, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the Pastoral.
Tickets are $8, parking included, and free to SSU students with ID.