Pablo Neruda

Join the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra for the Season Finale Lexus Classic Concert, Schumann, Sibelius, and Neruda Songs, featuring Mezzo-Soprano Kelley O’Connor on May 8 & 9 at 8pm at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. (For more information on the works being performed and a preview of some of the works, visit this online program guide.)

Tickets start at $35 and Students are $10. HoCoPoLitSo friends will receive a 25% discount on tickets in any section. Use online code HOCO2015 or call the Box Office and mention the code. There is a free pre-concert lecture at 6:45pm and parking is free. Box Office: 410-263-0907, www.annapolissymphony.org

Neruda Songs

One of American composer Peter Lieberson‘s final works was Neruda Songs. Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) was a Chilean poet and Nobel Prize winner and is considered one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Lieberson chose five of Neruda’s passionate love sonnets, saying: “…although these poems were written to another, when I set them I was speaking directly to my own beloved Lorraine.” Each line of poetry receives new music, reflecting the meaning of the words. From the program guide:

“Each of the five poems that I set to music seemed to me to reflect a different face in love’s mirror. The first poem, ‘If your eyes were not the color of the moon,’ is pure appreciation of the beloved. The second, ‘Love, love, the clouds went up the tower of the sky like triumphant washerwomen,’ is joyful and also mysterious in its evocation of nature’s elements: fire, water, wind, and luminous space. The third poem, ‘Don’t go far off, not even for a day,’ reflects the anguish of love, the fear and pain of separation. The fourth poem, ‘And now you’re mine. Rest with your dream in my dream,’ is complex in its emotional tone. First there is the exultance of passion. Then, gentle, soothing words lead the beloved into the world of rest, sleep, and dream. Finally, the fifth poem, ‘My love, if I die and you don’t,’ is very sad and peaceful at the same time. There is the recognition that no matter how blessed one is with love, there will still be a time when we must part from those whom we cherish so much.”