Jessie Montgomery: Starburst
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Ach, ich fuhl’s” from Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Exsultate jubilate
Carlos Simon: Fate Now Conquers
Ludwig Van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 (“Pastorale”)

Two exciting young artists headline this gorgeous concert!

Guest conductor Earl Lee first got our attention at the 2017/18 WSO RBC Emerging Canadian Conductors Showcase. Since then, the Korean-Canadian conductor has gone on to captivate audiences around the world. He is the music director of the Ann Arbor Symphony and assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Lee will lead the WSO in a programme that includes Beethoven’s beautifully serene and idyllic Symphony No. 6 (“Pastorale”), plus a new work by Carlos Simon that had its premiere in 2020. Fate Now Conquers uses the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 to depict the uncertainty and inevitability of fate, a path Beethoven so often felt hovering over him as he lived and worked.

Sarah Dufresne is a rising Canadian soprano who made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She makes her WSO debut with Mozart’s best-known aria for soprano from The Magic Flute and the composer’s motet Exsultate jubilate with the much-loved “Alleluia.”

The evening begins with Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst, a lively, rapidly changing work that showcases the virtuosity of the WSO’s string players.

CONCERT PROGRAM