About the Season

Our 59th season is guided by a powerful theme: Unity in Sound—music as a bridge between people, times, cultures and histories. We begin with Dances of Galánta, a dazzling work by the great Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály. Rooted in the folk traditions of his childhood town, Galánta—historically a crossroads between Eastern and Western Europe — this piece is a powerful blend of Hungarian Romani musical traditions and Western classical form. It is, in essence, a celebration of cultural synthesis.

The theme of unity continues in our October and November programs, as we present music from two countries currently in conflict — Ukraine and Russia. In October, we welcome the brilliant Ukrainian pianist Anna Shelest for a performance of the Ukrainian-born composer Sergei Bortkiewicz’s stirring Piano Concerto, a work filled with lyricism, passion and hope. In November, we present the monumental Symphony No. 5 by Sergei Prokofiev, a Russian composer who, even amid the turbulence of the time he composed it in 1944, envisioned this symphony as a celebration of the strength of the human spirit. And Sharon Roffman returns to Longmont to perform Brahms’ beloved Violin Concerto.

We’re also thrilled to present a Family Concert with a Concerto Competition winner performing with the Longmont Symphony, alongside Michael Close’s A Child’s Book of Animals. On the same program, the Longmont Youth Symphony plays side-by-side with the LSO.

In April, time itself becomes a bridge with mezzo-soprano Abigail Nims, a world premiere by Massimiliano Messieri, Respighi’s epic Pines of Rome and Vaughan Williams’ transcendent Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Scored for two orchestras—one representing the present day and the other evoking the music of the Renaissance—the piece creates a dialogue across centuries. The result is a tapestry of breathtaking beauty and spiritual depth.

Other season highlights include a Candlelight Concert with Handel’s Messiah in December, cellist Clancy Newman in Strauss’ Don Quixote and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations in February, and a Best of Broadway Pops Concert in May.  

This season, our music will not merely accompany our lives—it will live at the very center of them. In every performance, we will celebrate our common ground, and the timeless, boundless language of music that brings us together.

Elliot Moore, Music Director