Prelude is HSO’s new pre-concert guide which will be sent only in an electronic format to our subscribers, single-ticket holders, donors and any others who might be interested in some “insider information” about a piece, composer or artist that will be featured on the upcoming Masterworks program.

Prelude will not replace the excellent program notes in our concert program, but is written to offer some different – and hopefully fun – facts that will spark interest in the upcoming Masterworks program. It will be sent approximately a week in advance of the upcoming Masterworks program.

Please let us know what you think! If you know someone who might be interested in receiving Prelude, or you have feedback, please contact Ruth Sovronsky at 860-760-7321 or at rsovronsky@hartfordsymphony.org.

2021-2022 Season

• Masterworks 1: Beethoven 7
• Masterworks 2: Bernstein & Copland
• Masterworks 3: Tchaikovsky & Grieg
• Masterworks 4: From the New World

2019-2020 Season

• Masterworks 1: Rhapsody in Blue
• Masterworks 2: Brahms and Haydn
• Masterworks 3: Chopin and Franck
• Masterworks 4: The Four Seasons
• Masterworks 5: Romeo and Juliet
• Masterworks 6: Dvorák’s Eighth 
• Masterworks 7: Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky
• Masterworks 8: Enigma Variations
• Masterworks 9: Beethoven’s Ninth

2018-2019 Season

• Masterworks 1: Pictures at an Exhibition
• Masterworks 2: Brass & Brahms
• Masterworks 3: Tchaikovsky’s Firsts
• Masterworks 4: Bach & Beyond
• Masterworks 5: Latin Lovers 
• Masterworks 6: Mozart Meets Klezmer
• Masterworks 7: Vaughan Williams & Mendelssohn
• Masterworks 8: Beethoven’s 5th 
• Masterworks 9: Mahler 5

2017-2018 Season

• Masterworks 1: Beethoven’s Eroica
• Masterworks 2: Mozart & La Mer
• Masterworks 3: December Dreams
• Masterworks 4: A Scottish Fantasy 
• Masterworks 5: The Keys to Romance
• Masterworks 6: Stravinsky & Swan Lake
• Masterworks 7: Copland & Gershwin
• Masterworks 8: Shostakovich 5
• Masterworks 9: Carmina Burana: Festival of Fate

2016-2017 Season

• Masterworks 1: Scheherazade
• Masterworks 2: Bewitching Brahms
• Masterworks 3: Merry Mozart
• Masterworks 4: Beethoven and Ravel
• Masterworks 5: Symphonic Love Potions
• Masterworks 6: A Faust Symphony
• Masterworks 7: The Planets: Different Worlds
• Masterworks 8: Russian Intensity
• Masterworks 9: Choral Fantasy and Mystical Songs

2015-2016 Season

• Masterworks 1: Focus on Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
• Masterworks 2: Beethoven – The Bold Entrepreneur
• Masterworks 3: Handel: He Created a Gift That Keeps on Giving
• Masterworks 4: The Role of the Conductor, OR – Can Someone Please Explain What a Conductor Does, Really?
• Masterworks 5: What piece of music can claim to have “induced fits of sobbing, fainting and even orgasms” in the theatre?
• Masterworks 6: Russian Masters – Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major
• Masterworks 7: Mozart & Hartt – Connecting to Mozart
• Masterworks 8: Romantic Rachmaninoff – Why did Rachmaninoff’s composing career nearly end almost as soon as it began?
• Masterworks 9: Gershwin: Pop artist or classical composer?

Notes with composers’ biographical information and detailed remarks about the musical selections on the program compiled by a musicologist are available in the playbill for all Masterworks and Classical Connections.

2014-2015 Season Program Notes

• Porgy and Bess Program Notes

2013-2014 Season Program Notes Archive

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream Program Notes
  
• West Side Story Program Notes
  
• Enigma Variations Program Notes
  
• Mozart’s Requiem Program Notes
• Brahms’ Double Concerto Program Notes
  
• Bolero! Program Notes

Have you ever wondered what inspired Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1, or how exactly a theme and variations works? What about the intricacies of Berlioz’s orchestration or the historical significance of Stravinsky’s body of works? Masterworks Pre-Concert Talks provide the chance to find out. Join Music Director Carolyn Kuan, guest conductors, and Hartford Symphony Orchestra musicians as they offer engaging presentations about the works, the composers and historic perspectives of the concert that lies ahead. These 30 minute pre-concert presentations take place in the concert hall one hour prior to each Masterworks Series concert.

Pre-Concert Talk Sponsor