Daily News

Springfield Symphony Orchestra Slates ‘Dances of Spring’ for May 13  

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO) will stage its next concert, ‘Dances of Spring,’ on May 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Springfield Symphony Hall with guest conductor Mark Russell Smith. 

Tickets start at $15 and can be purchased on the Springfield Symphony Orchestra website, springfieldsymphony.org/event/dances-of-spring/, or by calling the SSO box office at (413) 733-2291. The box office is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets also include free parking. 

Mark Russell Smith will lead the orchestra in Michael Abels’ Liquify, which captures the shifting moods of a great river. Abels is a U.S. composer and producer best known for his scores for the Oscar-winning films Get Out and Us.  

The concert will also feature the dance music of great composers Aaron Copland and Gabriela Lena Frank, with Copland’s Saturday Night Waltz and Frank’s Coquetos, followed by Johannes Brahms’ famous Symphony #1. 

“The diversity of the composers we are featuring in our May 13 program will be something to witness — two living composers of non-traditional backgrounds, Abels and Frank, combined with the classic beauty of Copland and Brahms,” said SSO Interim Director Paul Lambert. “It will serve as a wonderful bookend to our 2022 spring concerts as we look forward to planning a new 2022-23 season.” 

Smith, who previously served as music director and conductor of the SSO from 1995-2000, is music director and conductor of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. He has worked as director of New Music Projects for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Minnesota, and has also served as music director for the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra. Smith Also served as guest conductor for the SSO’s first Spring concert on April 22. 

To learn more about the music that will be featured and to purchase tickets, visit the SSO’s website: www.springfieldsymphony.org/event/dances-of-spring/.  

Concert dates for the Springfield Symphony Orchestra’s 2022-23 season will be announced in the near future.