YSU Symphony Orchestra celebrates Russian composers in concert Nov. 3

“From Russia With Love,” a concert celebrating five significant Russian composers, will be performed 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, by the Youngstown State University Symphony Orchestra.

The concert is in Stambaugh Auditorium.

The concert's title is based on the historical significance of “The Five,” or the “mighty handful,” a small group of Russian composers in the mid-19th century concerned with creating specifically Russian classical music: Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin.

These composers, inspired by the father of Russian classical music, Mikhail Glinka, used a musical language they devised, comprised of lyrical Russian folk songs, whole tone and pentatonic scales, tone poem form, and exoticism, to separate themselves from the Austro-German musical tradition. As the Russian empire expanded under Tsar Alexander II, The Five incorporated their nationalistic pride into their compositions.

The 61-member YSU Symphony Orchestra will open the concert with Glinka's overture from his mid-19th century opera, Ruslan and Ludmilla, and will follow with Alexander Borodin's tone poem, In The Steppes of Central Asia. The feature piece on the program is Scheherazade, Op. 35 composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Violin soloist for Scheherazade is Caitlin Hedge, Dana School of Music Concert Master, and second year graduate assistant in strings and orchestra at YSU. Caitlin is from the Wooster, Ohio area. She earned a bachelor of Music in Violin Performance at Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory in 2015.

Tickets are available the night of the concert at the Stambaugh Auditorium Box Office. Tickets are $6; $5 for senior citizens and students from other schools. Children under 12 and anyone with a valid YSU ID is free. Free parking is available adjacent to Stambaugh Auditorium. More information is available at 330-941-2307.

Caption: Russian composer Alexander Borodin.