Celebrate the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 125th year at their special anniversary concert, which will feature both new and classic works.
The sounds of George Gershwin, who performed with the CSO in 1929, will return via a special performance of Rhapsody in Blue recorded for player piano. Also on deck is Scriabin’s Symphony No. 5. Based on the creation myth of Prometheus, the piece imagines a new instrument — a light organ. Through a video by Tal Rosner, the fictitious instrument will be given life. The composer experienced synesthesia, a condition in which one sense is perceived simultaneously as another; in his case, sound allegedly caused him to hallucinate color.
William Winstead’s CSO-commissioned Passages in Time will get its world premiere at the anniversary concert and conductor Louis Langrée will summon “gigantic orchestral forces” for the CSO-commissioned Collider, a work by Daniel Bjarnason.
Attendees can also expect performances of Ysaÿe’s Exil! and Duke Ellington’s New World A-Comin’. Pianists Aaron Diehl and Vadym Kholodenko will perform, as well as the CSO Youth Orchestra and the May Festival Chorus.
8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18; 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 19. $14-$130. Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, cincinnatisymphony.org.
