(dramatic music) - Feel the power of music as it captivates and connects us.

- Music is love.

Music is passion.

- [Narrator] Music belongs to everyone.

This is Minnesota Orchestra.

(soft cacophonous music) (audience cheers and applauds).

- Welcome!

Welcome to Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis to the special concert with the Minnesota Orchestra.

My name is Bill Eddins.

Yes, there we go.

And I am your host this evening.

Tonight's performance will be led by our guest conductor Ruth Reinhardt, who has recently debuted with a New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony.

Born in Germany, Ruth Reinhardt resides in Switzerland.

And we are also thrilled that she is here tonight making her debut with a Minnesota Orchestra.

(audience applauds) Tonight's program features three wildly different pieces, two of which are staples of the orchestral repertoire, and the third is a new work destined to become a core part of the solo rep. We will traverse from the multicultural whirlwind jazz classical mashup concerto, composed by polyglot Billy Childs, and performed by the brilliant saxophonist Stephen Banks, all the way to Prokofiev's Russian influenced take on Shakespeare's classic drama, "Romeo and Juliet."

But first, the wonders of Bohemia come to life in "Ma Vlast," Bedrich Smetana's sixth movement tone poem.

Now every year since 1952, on the 12th of May, the anniversary of Smetana's death, this work has opened up the Prague Spring International Music Festival.

It is now my privilege to welcome to the stage Minnesota Orchestra's concert master Erin Keefe.

(audience applauds) (gentle orchestral music) (audience applauds) (dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music) (light focused orchestral music) (bright orchestral music) (light focused orchestral music) (bright orchestral music) (light focused orchestral music) (bright orchestral music) (light pensive orchestral music) (light pensive orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music) (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (audience applauds) - [Melissa] That was "Sarka" by Bedrich Smetana, played by the Minnesota Orchestra under Ruth Reinhardt, a live broadcast on your classical NPR Twin Cities, PBS and the Minnesota Orchestra's website.

I'm Melissa Ousley.

Ruth Reinhardt led the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra several years ago, but this marks her debut with the Minnesota Orchestra.

and a solo bow for Gregory Williams playing the principle clarinet for this piece.

And also Tony Ross, principal cello.

And now Ruth is asking the full orchestra to stand.

"Sarka," the third piece from Smetana's collection of six called "Ma Vlast" or "My Country," it's the second one from that set, "The Moldau" that is easily Smetana's best known work.

It might be part of the reason we hardly hear pieces like the one you just heard.

Ruth Reinhardt grew up in Saarbrucken, which is on the western edge of Germany.

She told me France is just up the hill.

And when she was a kid, on Saturday mornings, she and her dad and siblings would bike over to France and get a French pastry as a treat.

She is also from a family of medical doctors.

I asked her if she ever considered pursuing medicine, and she said, quite the contrary, when she was a kid, she proclaimed she didn't wanna do that, and she got full support from her family to go into music.

And so she did.

She likes to put together programs of music, old and new.

The piece she just heard dates from about 1875, Prokofiev's ballet "Romeo and Juliet" is from the 1930s.

And in just a moment you'll hear a saxophone concerto that is barely a year old.

Bill Eddins is the onstage host tonight, and in a moment he'll be out to help us set up the next piece of music.

And here is Bill.

- Good evening, again.

So composer and jazz pianist, Billy Childs grew up immersed in music and began performing on the piano by age six.

A native of Los Angeles, he has worked with Chick Corea, Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, and Gladys Knight.

Throw in the LA Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Billy Childs is also a six time Grammy award-winning composer, picking up his latest Grammy this year for best jazz instrumental album.

And this barely scratches the surface.

Composer and saxophonist, Steven Banks is the first saxophonist to capture first place at the young concert artist Susan Wadsworth international auditions.

He is an advocate for equity in music education and performance and overcoming institutional prejudices.

Steven reached out to Billy to collaborate and create this piece, "Diaspora, Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra."

This season, Steven Banks's touring the Concerto that was co-commissioned by nine orchestras, including the Minnesota Orchestra, along with Young Concert artists.

"Diaspora" makes its premier with the Minnesota Orchestra tonight.

Please welcome Billy Childs and Steven Banks.

(audience applauds) So I'm thrilled to be here tonight for the premier of "Diaspora."

Billy, would you tell us a little bit about this piece?

- Yes.

First of all, it's so great to be here in this beautiful concert hall.

This piece was, as you mentioned, commissioned by Young Concert artists and more specifically Stephen Banks.

And it's pretty much a chronicle of the Black American experience in the United States, a programmatic piece, which is anchored by three poems that we decided on.

One was by a great poet, Nayyirah Waheed, it's called "Africa's Lament."

And then Claude McKay, Harlem Renaissance composer, I mean, poet wrote, "If We Must Die."

And then of course Maya Angelou wrote, "And Still I Rise."

And these three poems kind of are guideposts in the progression of the piece.

- So Steven, what was it like picking up the phone to call Billy Childs and try and talk him into doing this commission for you?

- Well, of course, approaching any composer is a little bit scary, but when they have five or six Grammys or whatever, it's even more intimidating.

But I thought that there was a real symbiotic relationship between the saxophone, myself and Billy Childs, all of us having some stake in jazz, but also having expression of classical music in many ways at our roots.

The saxophone being an instrument that was invented well before jazz existed to play in the orchestra actually, and then going into jazz after that.

So I thought it would be a great fit, and so I reached out and I was just very excited that he was happy to do it.

- So quickly, do you have any anecdotes you wanna share about working with this young man?

Either way, we're calling each other young men here.

- Well, I appreciate the young man comment, probably more than he does, but nothing anecdotal, it was just a smooth, it was a natural organic process and relationship.

I heard Steven playing on a YouTube clip of just a solo saxophone piece, and I think it was a piece that you wrote.

He's an incredible composer as well.

And I fell in love with the saxophone.

I have a lot of experience writing for saxophone in a jazz context, but when I heard him, I knew I could really collaborate with him.

So there's no real anecdote.

- Well, thank you both for being here.

Welcome to Minnesota and we can't wait to hear "Diaspora."

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you so much.

(audience applauds) - I wanna leave you with this thought as we listen to "Diaspora."

The Black diaspora in this country is very complicated.

I was recently in Charleston, conducting that wonderful orchestra and found myself walking along the wharves, and there is a plaque there saying that this is where many slave ships came in.

And I thought that was a very humbling experience.

And of course, this being 2024, I posted that on social media saying that, you know, "I probably have some ancestors who came off of those ships," until a friend of mine also reminded me, "I may have had some ancestors who are waiting for those people to come off those ships as well."

So very complicated diaspora here in the United States.

Regardless, please enjoy the Minnesota Premier of "Diaspora, Concerto for Saxophone" by Billy Childs.

(audience applauds) (light orchestral music) (audience applauds) (gentle saxophone music) (gentle playful orchestral music) (gentle playful orchestral music continues) (gentle playful orchestral music continues) (gentle playful orchestral music continues) (light anxious saxophone music) (light anxious orchestral music) (light anxious orchestral music) (tense anxious orchestral music) (tense anxious orchestral music continues) (uneasy saxophone music) (uneasy orchestral music) (uneasy orchestral music continues) (uneasy saxophone music) (uneasy saxophone music continues) (uneasy saxophone music continues) (uneasy saxophone music continues) (uneasy saxophone music continues) (uneasy saxophone music continues) (uneasy orchestral music) (dramatic uneasy orchestral music) (light anxious saxophone music) (tense uneasy orchestral music) (tense uneasy orchestral music continues) (light uneasy orchestral music) (light uneasy orchestral music continues) (tense uneasy orchestral music) (tense uneasy orchestral music continues) (tense uneasy orchestral music continues) (tense uneasy orchestral music continues) (soft uneasy saxophone music) (soft uneasy saxophone music continues) (soft uneasy orchestral music) (tense uneasy orchestral music) (tense uneasy orchestral music continues) (tense uneasy orchestral music continues) (tense uneasy orchestral music continues) (soft uneasy orchestral music) (soft uneasy saxophone music) (soft uneasy saxophone music continues) (soft uneasy saxophone music continues) (gentle pensive saxophone music) (gentle pensive saxophone music continues) (gentle pensive orchestral music) (gentle pensive orchestral music continues) (gentle pensive orchestral music continues) (bright pensive orchestral music) (bright pensive orchestral music continues) (bright pensive orchestral music continues) (audience applauds) - [Narrator] "Diaspora, Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra," composed by the polyglot Billy Childs and performed magnificently by the young master saxophonist, Steven Banks, receiving its Minnesota premier with the Minnesota Orchestra, Ruth Reinhardt conducting.

And here comes Billy Childs, a man who has worked in jazz and classical music across the spectrum, multiple Grammy Award winner and composer of that wonderful concerto.

This concerto was a co-commission with nine orchestras and the Young Artists Foundation, receiving its Minnesota this evening to a standing crowd.

(audience applauds) Steven Banks returns to the stage, he's taking a solo bow, applause also of the orchestra.

They have wonderful respect for this young man, fantastic player, wonderful educator as well.

And he's going to play an encore.

- [William] "The Lord's Prayer."

(gentle saxophone music) (gentle saxophone music continues) (gentle saxophone music continues) (gentle saxophone music continues) (gentle saxophone music continues) (gentle saxophone music continues) (gentle saxophone music continues) (audience applauds) - A solo performance of "The Lord's Prayer."

A musical setting of the Biblical Lord's player by composer Albert Hay Mallet wrote that in 1935.

Was an instant hit.

It's been recorded by artists as disparate as Mario Lanza, as Andrea Bocelli.

The baritone John Charles Thomas made it famous.

He produced the first 78 RPM disc of that in 1936, and it was played across the country.

So it's winter, and in Minnesota that means it's hockey season.

Truth be told, the time of year doesn't matter, because in Minnesota it's always hockey.

It's no surprise that there are musicians in the Minnesota Orchestra who have adopted hockey as a principle pastime.

Let's meet some of our chosen frozen.

Cellists Katja Linfield and Silver Ainomae, principal timpani Erich Rieppel and bassist Dave Williamson share a passion for the ice.

(bright orchestral music) - I grew up watching "Wonder Woman" and she'd stick out her ring and nobody knew who she was and then, phh, so I feel like I'm this orchestral player who, a lot of people still don't know that I play hockey.

My name is Katja Linfield and I play cello in the Minnesota Orchestra.

I also play forward and sometimes defense for the Ravens hockey team.

That's a team from WHAM, which is Women's Hockey Association of Minnesota.

The Ravens Home Ice is in St. Paul at the Pleasant Ice Arena.

(bright orchestral music) - I'm Erick Rieppel, principal timpani of the Minnesota Orchestra, and I'm also the left wing of the Minnesota Orchestra Hockey team.

Erick Rieppel, Marshall High School, - Dave Williamson, St. Paul Highland Park.

- Silver Ainomae, Sibelius Academy.

- We don't have an official hockey team, it's just the three of us for now, but we're recruiting.

- This is the Roseville Oval.

It's the largest refrigerated outdoor ice sheet in North America.

We're here partly because this place has had ice since middle of November, and then there's pickup leagues that Silver and Erick and I play in full pads and stuff at night.

(gentle orchestral music) - I am originally from Boston.

I came to the Minnesota Orchestra in 1990, long time ago.

I think the hardest thing for me is I'm used to snowy winters, but winters here, when I first came, were much colder.

And winter has not gotten easier.

But luckily when I turned 50, I found this new passion, which is playing ice hockey.

And that definitely keeps me going through the winter.

I do play hockey all year round.

I play at scrimmage at least twice a week, all summer long.

And then there are hockey clinics and there's a lot of opportunities.

And this is all women's hockey.

When I tried it out, I loved it so much and I started going to Monday morning scrimmages, 'cause Monday's our day off at the orchestra.

It was so fun to be part of a group of people who loveq what they're doing on the ice.

And growing up I wasn't able to be on a team, because I had to be practicing my cello.

I mean, the orchestra is a family, and there's amazing comradery in this orchestra, within my section, within the orchestra itself.

There's something very different about the camaraderie on the bench at the hockey game.

We're all just sort of letting loose on the ice, and I just loved it.

And then add a little adrenaline to that.

I'm not an adrenaline junkie, but I do have competition in my blood.

So I'm pretty competitive, which, you know, I feel like I'm a really nice person.

But when I get out there, this sort of harder side comes out, which is kind of fun.

(emotional orchestral music) - During my trial week to join the orchestra, one of the first interactions I had was with Dave Williamson.

He just came up to me, he's like, "Oh, so you're from Minnesota, huh?"

I was like, "Yeah," and I'm all nervous trying to be polite and do the right thing.

And he's like, "You play hockey, right?"

And I was like, "Actually, I do."

And he's like, "Good."

Even that little bit of interaction was comforting to me that people can hang out here, they have plenty of interest outside of the orchestra, and that one is a particularly passionate one for me.

The majority of my childhood, I did mainly hockey and then I started playing drums.

I also did dancing, tap dancing, ballet.

I had to make a decision around 11 or 12 years old between hockey and varieties of dancing.

And I chose hockey.

It's really liberating and spontaneous, kind of like jazz in one way, kind of like classical music in another way.

- I'm from St. Paul, I play bass in the Minnesota.

(indistinct), of course.

But I went through organized hockey peewees, spanoms, I played for my high school.

But when I was 15 years old, it occurred to me I played bass better than I played hockey.

I'm not gonna make the golfers, but I still play.

And I coached my son, ended up playing high school hockey in St. Paul, and I was his coach through squirts and peewees and all that.

So I got my coaching license and I've never stopped playing.

- In Finland, everybody either plays hockey or figure skates.

So I started playing some hockey.

And 2016, I moved to Minneapolis.

Soon after that Dave Williamson who basically came to me and said like, "Well, we gotta go and get some skates for you."

And then after that he was like, "Well, there are these indoor games and so we gotta go and get you full gear."

And so I did.

And then I started playing, and then I think the most active year I had, I played about 90 hockey games plus all the outdoor skates in a year.

So it's been a lot of fun.

Well, Erick's got the stick handling, some very nice dangles, good moves.

- [Erick] Silver can skate super fast.

He's got incredible vision too.

- Silver knows how to stop now too, which is also good.

- This is good.

(Dave and Erick laughing) Not at the boards.

- Yes, exactly.

- [Silver] And Dave keeps his eye on the park well and it's good defense.

- He knows where to be and like how to position himself to be available for a pass or spread out the players on the ice.

I'm sure he was a sniper back in his prime.

(dramatic orchestral music) - As a musician in an orchestra, there's so much like peripheral attention and vision that you use.

Even if you're looking at the music, you can see the conductor without looking up.

And then there are things you have to listen for.

So hockey's very similar, but I'm still learning to be more aware.

So in hockey they say your head should be on a swivel, so you should always be looking, even if you have the puck.

I'm just in another world when I'm on the ice.

During the pandemic, we couldn't play hockey.

So it just so happened that at the time I had a very large backyard.

So I built an ice rink 20 by 30 feet so that I could still skate and get my therapy in.

And it had poles and lights and a net and I had a bunch of pucks and it was great.

- Whether I'm playing defense or offense, it's like about passing and quick creativity, and that's the flow space that hockey demands of you.

But the way of thinking what happened before, what happens now and what's going to happen after in a much slower way, that's kind of what I'm doing on timpani.

But it's super high pressure.

And in hockey it's high pressure, but there's an allowance for flexibility, which I love.

(dramatic orchestral music) - I love playing with these guys and like I say, they're some of my best friends and it's a great sport for us.

As long as I can do it, I'm gonna do it.

- It's nice to be active and it's good to promote that kinda lifestyle.

So have a good balance between playing the instrument and studying music and then just going outside and meeting people that have nothing to do with our profession.

- When you connect to things you did when you were growing up, you always have a certain feeling of like rounded self, feeling of a wholesomeness, I guess.

And flying on ice.

It's a unique sensation.

And that's just skating.

And then playing hockey has got spontaneity, creativity, quickness and analysis all in like a few moments.

- What I love most about hockey is I just feel like I get to let everything go and just be in the moment and hopefully do good things on the ice.

(dramatic orchestral music) - Some really cool drone shots from above Guidant John Rose Minnesota oval.

Well, only in Minnesota.

I'm from Buffalo.

Buffalo, New York.

I was a decent skater in my youth, but given the choice, I'm gonna stick with what I do now, which is Gongfu.

At least it's warm inside.

And speaking of only in Minnesota, one of the most wonderful aspects of classical music is that a young person can pick up an instrument, strive and thrive, and go on to win a position in their hometown's orchestra.

Such is the story of first violinist Sarah Grimes.

Born and raised right here in the Twin Cities, she joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2016, and has become an extremely active performer throughout the metro area.

Here's her story.

- So this is your dad, right?

- Yeah, this is my father.

He was very musical and I heard that a great-grandfather in Norway played the violin and many other instruments.

- So there was a multi-generational campaign happening for a violinist in this family.

Right?

(chuckles) (bright orchestral music) My name is Sarah Grimes and I'm a first violinist in the Minnesota Orchestra.

I grew up here in Minnesota.

According to my mom, when I was three, I started asking for a violin.

My parents are musicians and they were teaching me all about the different instruments and about orchestra and having me listen to orchestral music.

- Music was just happening here.

I was playing the trumpet, mom as an accompanist.

You know, that's part of the adventure of being parents and having kids is finding out where your gifts lie and helping you to develop those gifts.

- My sister Lydia is in the viola section of the Minnesota Orchestra.

She just joined the orchestra about a year ago.

- I grew up looking up to her and wanting to be like her my whole life.

So to finally be together and performing together is very special.

- You above all people on this earth have the ability to make me laugh if you just make a face at me, it's a dangerous situation every concert.

I just can't look over at you because I'll start laughing.

- [Lydia] That's very true.

- As far as having a musical family, you can be in the environment like that, that just makes music naturally a part of your life.

But there's so, so much that goes into raising kids and giving them a musical education.

I mean, it's the driving, buying instruments, taking notes at all of my lessons.

Mom playing with me all the time for all of my recitals, grandma taking me to play recitals and helping me prepare for all of them.

- We used to call grandma their agent too, because grandma would set up all kinds of stuff at nursing homes.

- I remember different points with each of you where I said, "Yeah, these girls are gonna be absolute topnotch musicians."

- So here's a photo of Sarah with Nancy Lockin, her first teacher.

And Nancy is the one that suggested that we might do a listening notebook.

And so she had this idea and- - I'm so glad I found this.

I still play all of these pieces all the time.

And it's kind of, I don't often stop to think about the fact that I started hearing them when I was four or five.

"Romeo and Juliet" by Prokofiev, which I listened to.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 times.

- Wow.

Your favorite.

- One of my favorites.

That might have been when it became my favorite.

I don't know.

- [Father] What do you think you liked about it back then?

- I mean, I think I liked the drama of it.

(dramatic violin music) The harmonic language of Prokofiev is just so ingenious to me.

But at the same time, the melodies that he writes are very arresting.

Like they kind of go straight to my heart.

(dramatic violin music continues) When I was growing up, the orchestra offered a lot of different competitions for young musicians.

And so I played in many of those.

And when I was 12 years old, I was a finalist in something called Minnesota Idol, which was a short-lived competition that came about in the heyday of American Idol.

So I got to play, I think an excerpt of my concerto with the orchestra when I was 12.

And that was so beyond anything I could have dreamed of doing at that age.

And I later joined the Minnesota Youth Symphonies.

That was a huge part of my musical life as a kid.

- [Mother] Osmo was the music director, and Sarah got to meet him when he conducted Youth Symphony.

- I went to Northwestern University and played in the civic orchestra of Chicago for a year.

And in 2016, I became a member of the Minnesota Orchestra.

I came to a lot of orchestra concerts as a little kid and as a teenager.

And I think now being a Minnesotan in the Minnesota Orchestra, I feel a sense of responsibility to continue the work that had such an impact on me as a kid.

All of the young people's concerts that we do, all of the work that we do in the community performances, teaching, I really value that and I want to be a part of continuing that legacy.

(gentle orchestral music) When I joined the Minnesota Orchestra, I was really struck by how familial it was and how friendly everyone was from day one.

And I really think that's a special thing about this orchestra.

I've made so many lifelong friends here.

I'm gonna have some friends over who just happen to be orchestra musicians for a tapas night.

I'm looking for some Spanish cheeses.

My biggest hobby probably is cooking.

I love to cook.

I love trying new recipes, but most of all I just love cooking for people and the friendship and fellowship that that always invites.

- At one party, she brought her crockpots to my house and served like 20 people, mac and cheese.

It was awesome.

- Nice specialty.

- Yes.

- For tapas night, I made gambas al ajillo, that's garlic shrimp.

And I tried making this almond garlic red chilled soup.

We had a nice baked goat cheese and tomato sauce, which is one of my favorite dishes from a tapas restaurant that I used to go to.

And we had lots of bread and charcuterie.

- I am very spoiled with meals like this a lot.

- [Sarah] We're gonna have a full table.

We can just stand around.

- I just love Sarah all the way through, all the way round.

She's just fabulous.

She's a beautiful person.

She's a beautiful musician.

I think she makes beautiful food, which I'm very, very lucky to enjoy.

- I can't think of a better thing to do on a very, very cold night than pretend we're in Spain.

- [All] Cheers!

- She's one of those musicians who makes the musicians around her better.

And it makes her so easy to play with.

You feel like you know what she's going to do before she does it.

And that's a skill.

That's something that you work on and that you perfect over years and not everybody gets there.

And it's what makes her the kind of musician that other musicians want to play with.

This is the last nice stuff that any of us will ever say about you.

- We're done.

- It is over.

- Yeah.

(light chamber music) - I think for a lot of musicians, chamber music is the thing that we love most, because at the end of the day, that is what we do just on a bigger scale when we're playing an orchestra.

So I always cherish the moments when I can play chamber music with my colleagues.

I love being able to put groups together and choose our repertoire.

I just find it to be one of the joys in life.

(bright orchestral music) When I was growing up, my grandma would always take me to perform at nursing homes.

I had a ton of experience in front of an audience, which was a great thing on its own, but I think it also taught me how much music or just expressing yourself towards other people can make a difference to them.

And those experiences really shaped how I think about my job as a performer.

You know, we're all kind of just processing the human experience together and trying to find those moments that can really only happen in something as inexplicable as music.

I really hope that anyone who comes through the doors of Orchestra Hall leaves feeling changed somehow.

If I know that we as a group can do that for any number of people, then I've done my job.

(dramatic orchestral music) (audience applauds) - Sarah's parents met in college at a St. Paul Chamber Orchestra concert at Ravinia in Illinois many years ago.

Sarah's 91-year-old grandmother who had been a music teacher and boy choir director is a regular here at Orchestra Hall, seeing her granddaughters Sarah Grimes and Lydia Grimes perform in the Minnesota Orchestra.

Only a small number of Minnesota Orchestra musicians are originally from Minnesota.

And tonight we have met a few.

As intermission wraps, I will head back on stage to introduce the second half of the program.

I will see you there in a moment.

(light orchestral music) (audience applauds) Welcome back to the second half of the concert.

Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" is one of those early 20th century ballets with music that has filtered into the standard orchestral repertoire.

And for good reason.

Started in 1935 and premiered in 1938, the ballet originally received negative reviews.

Not so much for the music, but because the story had been changed to have a happy ending.

(audience laughs) How that was supposed to work, I'm completely unsure of.

I wonder if Prokofiev even read "Romeo and Juliet" at that point.

It ran afoul of the Soviet culture ministry.

It most probably didn't help that during this time, Stalin was denouncing the "degenerate modernist movement" in music, mainly taking aim at Shastakovich.

And there was a distinct chill in the air when it came to forward thinking music composition.

After extensive reworking, the version of the ballet we are familiar with was premiered in 1940, shortly after the start of World War II, at which point in a complete turnaround, the ballet was awarded the Stalin Prize.

(audience laughs) Now this production received international acclaim and Prokofiev was inspired to take music from the ballet and create three orchestral suites, music from which we shall hear tonight.

And you'll recognize an instrument that gives a curious tone to this music because you heard it in the first half.

Russian composers were fascinated by the sound of the saxophone, and Prokofiev gives it a central part in his wonderful ballet music.

Conductor Ruth Reinhardt returns to the stage for this thrilling rendition of Shakespeare's drama, "Romeo and Juliet."

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