Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 at The Meyerhoff
An ASO Special Debut Performance
Monday, June 1, 2026
8:00 PM at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Tickets for this performance will be available on the Meyerhoff ticketing site. Please click here to purchase tickets.
Maestro José-Luis Novo conducts the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Reinaldo Moya’s vibrant Polo Romanesco and Dimitri Shostakovich’s gripping Symphony No. 5—a journey from darkness to triumph that remains one of the most powerful works of the 20th century.
The Annapolis Symphony Academy’s Orion Youth Orchestra opens the concert, performing two pieces side-by-side with their ASO musician-mentors—a powerful symbol of music’s ability to inspire future musicians.
MUSIC PROGRAM
Nancy Galbraith “Midnight Stirring”
with Annapolis Symphony Academy Orion Youth Orchestra
conducted by ASA Assistant Conductor Claire Lewis
Benjamin Britten – Soirées musicales, Op. 9
with Annapolis Symphony Academy Orion Youth Orchestra
Dimitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op.47
Reinaldo Moya – Polo Romanesco
Running Time: 90 minutes. This concert does not include an intermission.
The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra makes its debut at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall during the League of American Orchestras Annual Conference. The concert is also open to the public. League of American Orchestra attendees can use code LEAGUE for 50% off tickets, up to 4 per transaction.
Annapolis Symphony Academy
Orion Youth Orchestra
Nancy Galbraith, Midnight Stirring
The evening begins with Nancy Galbraith’s Midnight Stirring, performed side -by -side by the Annapolis Symphony Academy’s Orion Youth Orchestra and their ASO musician-mentors—a powerful symbol of music’s ability to inspire across generations.
Midnight Stirring was commissioned by the Columbia Flute Choir for their 2015 concert appearance at the 43rd Annual National Flute Convention in Washington DC. The work was rescored by the composer at the request of Maestro Culbertson for the Society of Musical Arts Orchestra in Maplewood, NJ. Midnight Stirring begins with a solo violin melody followed by low chords, reflecting a slightly ominous atmosphere. The opening unfolds into a livelier ostinato, over which a melody, harmonized with rich 7th chords, is stated. Although primarily melodic, the music incorporates the use of many lively rhythmic grooves and textures.
Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten is one of the last century’s most respected composers, and unquestionably the most influential and admired British composer from WW II until his death in 1976. Soirées musicales (Musical Evenings) is a suite of five movements that relies on music originally composed by Gioachino Rossini. The suite derives its title from Rossini’s collection of the same name, dating from the early 1830s, from which Britten drew much of the thematic material. Soirées musicales blends charming, dance-like themes with sharp rhythms and inventive orchestration, showcasing the 22-year-old composer’s technical mastery and keen sense of irony in a lighthearted, five-movement suite.
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
The program culminates with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, as the ASO alone takes the audience on a journey from its hauntingly somber opening to a triumphant finale—a timeless testament to resilience and the endurance of the human spirit. a work of gripping intensity and symphonic power. Written at a time of political turmoil, Shostkovich’s Symphony No. 5 has sparked debate over whether it expresses defiant resilience or state-mandated celebration. Either way, its sheer force and complexity make it one of the most compelling symphonies of the 20th century.
Reinaldo Moya, Polo Romanesco
The Romanesca is a melodic-harmonic formula popular from the mid–16th to early–17th centuries that was used as an aria formula for singing poetry and as a subject for instrumental variation. The formula was not to be viewed as a fixed tune, but as a framework over which elaborate ornamentation can occur. Documentation of the term is seen for the first time in Alonso Mudarra’s Tres libros de musico en cifra para vihuela (Romanesca, o Guárdame las vacas) (“O let us put the cows to pasture” or, “look after the cows for me”) in 1546 and in Carminum pro testudines liber IV by Pierre Phalèse.
This Romanesca must have made its way to the shores of the New World where after several centuries, it became the basis for one of the most popular songs from Western Venezuela. The Polo Margariteño is a folk song of unknown authorship that became widely known in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Moya’s Polo Romanesco is a kind of postmodern send up of the Romanesca progression as it weaves its way through bits and piece of the Polo Margariteño. The piece is full of surprises and juxtapositions and is an attempt to go on a similar journey from the same one these humble chords went on many centuries ago across unthinkable distances. It is a piece that attempts to bridge the gap between European and Venezuelan music and in turns it points to a way forward in which music can be both old and new.
TICKETING
Tickets for this performance must be purchased through the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall website. Please visit this link to purchase tickets.