Witness a collage of Americana interpreted by two of our foremost composers, John Adams and Aaron Copland, and bluegrass phenomenon Chris Thile (who performs his Mandolin Concerto with Orpheus at Carnegie Hall on March 24). Thile's inventive take on traditional fiddle tunes will be interspersed with movements from Adams' quirky and bittersweet Alleged Dances. We conclude with Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite in its original version for 13 players, a masterwork infused with homespun beauty that continues to define the American sound.

Experience two of the brightest American stars from the past century and two newcomers who are burnishing their own names into the national pantheon. We open with the world premiere of a suite from Leonard Bernstein’s one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti, a deeply moving blend of musical theater and classical traditions arranged by another distinguished American composer, Paul Chihara. Grammy-winning composer/performer Chris Thile–the charismatic leader of Punch Brothers, “one of the greatest young bands in the country, bluegrass or otherwise (Village Voice)”–makes his Orpheus debut with his own jaw-dropping Mandolin Concerto. Clint Needham writes bright, explosive music; his Project 440 commission will add to an impressive array of orchestral credits. The program concludes with the unadorned beauty of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, still the defining work of American concert music after nearly sixty years.

We ring in the 39th season with legendary music and musicians. Based on a medieval fable, Mendelssohn's Fair Melusina captures the beauty of a mermaid who poses as a human six days a week–and the trouble that unfolds when her husband's curiosity gets the best of him. Young composer Cynthia Wong, the first of four rising composers commissioned through Project 440, is already a master of bewitching textures and soul-baring melodies. Her new work promises to be a future classic. Haydn's Symphony No. 73, "La Chasse," gallops to an unforgettable finish with a hunt-inspired finale. The program culminates with Orpheus' first performance of Brahms' monumental Violin Concerto, reuniting the orchestra with one of its favorite partners, violin superstar Gil Shaham. With the combination of Orpheus, Shaham, and Brahms, this performance is a legend in the making.

Orpheus presents music inspired by the rhythms of a world in flux. Hindemith’s wry and raucous Kammermusik No. 1 put the young composer on the map in 1921, before he fled his native Germany. Receiving its New York premiere this evening, Kahane’s Orinoco Sketches for chamber orchestra and voice draws from the diary of another figure who fled Nazi Germany–the composer’s grandmother, whose journey took her to Los Angeles via Havana. The program concludes with selections from Kahane’s brand new album, Where Are the Arms–songs that are hauntingly beautiful, “sinewy and direct, elevating common-place subjects with intricate arrangements (Brooklyn Vegan).”

Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 1 captures the brassy, bubbling energy of 1920s Germany–so well, in fact, that it launched the composer’s career at the age of 26. Another German trailblazer, oboist Albrecht Mayer, returns to Orpheus with two works that stretch the oboe repertoire. Lost for centuries, Bach’s Concerto in A Major for Oboe d’amore was reconstructed from the composer’s own keyboard arrangement. Mayer also stakes a claim on Mozart’s delightful Andante, borrowing a favorite flute solo. Project 440 composer Andrew Norman, whose music teems with propulsive energy and astonishing textures, re-imagines the orchestra for the 21st century. Though Haydn did not invent the symphony, his final works in that genre pushed the boundaries for every composer that followed. His penultimate symphony explodes with grandeur and color, featuring the famous “drumroll” among other special effects.

Orpheus performs brilliant works that reach beyond their eras and origins, transporting listeners to faraway worlds. Michael Tippett, one of the great British composers of the 20th century, harked back to Renaissance England for his Divertimento on Sellinger's Round. Dmitri Shostakovich sidestepped the harsh realities of Stalinist Russia through irony and dark humor. Renowned pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet returns to Orpheus for Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, an early masterpiece that juxtaposes brooding intensity with bawdy tunes and the incongruous commentary of a trumpet. Arthur Honegger's Pastorale d'été evokes 1920s Paris with a warm, breezy homage to summer, and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings–a longtime Orpheus favorite–captivates us with a heartfelt love letter to Mozart and the Classical era.