Conductors got their name by both guiding orchestras and wielding copper batons that deflect lightning away from the brass section. Behold an electrifying performance with this GrouponLive deal to see the China National Symphony Orchestra at the State Theatre. For $11, you get one ticket for Premium Orchestra, Mid Orchestra, Premium Loge, Front Balcony, Mid Balcony or Gallery seating on Sunday, February 17, at 3 p.m. (up to a $65 value). Doors open at 1:30 p.m.
Touring the United States for the first time since 2006, the China National Symphony Orchestra presents a multinational evening of classical and contemporary compositions. The first movement of Earth Requiem opens the performance, a moving lament written by the orchestra’s executive director, Guan Xia, to memorialize the victims of a 2008 earthquake in Wenchuan. Next comes Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D Minor, an urgent and surging work that seems to be barely restrained by a precise and complicated rhythm. Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben sonically tracks an archetypical hero’s journey, telling of his battles against his foes, his great works of peace, his retirement from the world, and his postretirement birdhouse-building hobby in 50 swift-moving minutes. The eclectic, elegant program is indicative of the orchestra’s celebration of global works both old and new, an approach it has built on since its founding in 1956.
The State Theatre has no elevator and stairs are required to access the balcony level.
