Colorful Contrast

Rising star guest Conductor Tito Munoz, of the Opéra national de Lorraine, makes Royce Auditorium's commanding architecture and exquisite acoustics his canvas in this concert, an exhibition of mood pieces from the 20th century and beyond. The concert dawns with John Corigliano's Elegy for Orchestra, a sinuous, flute-led piece that recalls the hope of a new day after a long night battling boogey men.

Next is Finding Rothko, a newer work by up-and-coming composer Adam Schoenberg, himself a onetime student of Corigliano. The 16-minute piece races through aural representations of four Rothko canvases, conveying the exhilaration of being drawn into his bright blocks of color and the more reflective mood brought on by subtler shades. To complete the evening, de Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat interjects a note of bawdy mirth drawn from a tale of cuckoldry and comic revenge set after a milliner locks up for the evening, and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 energetically evokes the neo-classical movement.

See below right for info about Thursdays@7 1-hr concert format.

* Thursdays@7 1-hour format will not include this work