The Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO) will perform the works of four great composers on May 21st with “Respighi, Barber, Berio, & Ives” presented by TSYS. The concert will begin at 7:30 PM and will be performed in the Bill Heard Theatre at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts. 

Music Director and Conductor, George Del Gobbo commented, “The next Columbus Symphony concert features four works by four composers, each with a distinct and unique style. Ottorino Respighi could make an orchestra sparkle like few others in music history. His skills as an orchestrator are evident in his ‘Botticelli Triptych’. Samuel Barber, an American composer with a talent for lyricism, offers a transcendent setting of the words of Pulitzer Prize winning author James Agee's ‘Knoxville: Summer of 1915’. Avant-garde Italian composer Luciano Berio loved the music of the Beatles. He offers his own take on three of that group's more famous songs. And finally, Charles Ives' youthful attendance at many religious camp meetings is made special by the way he weaves countless familiar hymn tunes into his Third Symphony. ”

Italian composer Ottorino Respighi encountered three paintings by Sandro Botticelli at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence: La Primavera (Spring), L’Adorazione dei Magi (The Adoration of the Magi), and La Nascita di Venere (The Birth of Venus). These paintings inspired his programmatic composition, Trittico Botticelliano, leveraging the contrasting subject matter to create a dynamic musical composition.

Soprano Lindsay Kesselman will take the stage to perform two pieces with the CSO. She is hailed by Fanfare Magazine as an “artist of growing reputation for her artistry and intelligence...with a voice of goddess-like splendor.” The first piece will be Knoxville: Summer of 1915 composed by Samuel Barber in 1947 for soprano and orchestra. It is a glorious showcase of both his vocal and instrumental music.  

Luciano Berio was known for his experimental compositions and his avant-garde style. He was a huge admirer of Paul McCartney and the Beatles and composed an adaptation of several of their works in a piece titled Beatles Songs. Berio’s Beatles Songs consists of four movements for chamber orchestra - Michelle I, Ticket to Ride, Yesterday, and Michelle II. Originally written to be performed by his wife, the piece will also be performed by Lindsay Kesselman, soprano soloist.