Contact: Caleb Bailey, [email protected]; 860-443-2876

Mahler & Brahms- Saturday, March 30th, 2024, 7:30 pm

Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London, CT 06320

Click here to view the press release

It is often said that life is a journey. A piece of music, too, is a journey, one that holds up a mirror to life. The ECSO’s March 30 program explores this theme in works by Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, and the neoclassical Italian composer Salvatore Di Vittorio, whose 2015 Sea Fanfare, based on a theme by Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, will open the concert. Mezzo-soprano Ivy Walz, associate dean of Ithaca College’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, where she is a faculty member, will perform Gustav Mahler’s orchestral song cycle Songs of a Wayfarer. The text for the four bittersweet lieder about lost love was written by Mahler, inspired by the collection of folk poetry Des Knaben Wunderhorn.

More music from that romantic decade of the 1880s follows: the thrilling tone poem Don Juan—about the legendary Spanish seducer who comes to a bad end—written by Richard Strauss in 1888. The program concludes with Symphony No. 2 in D Major by Johannes Brahms, sometimes called Brahms’s “pastoral” symphony, composed during the summer of 1877 when the composer was enjoying lakeside life in Pörtschach am Worthersee, a village in Carinthia, Austria’s southernmost state.

There will be a complimentary post-concert reception.

To purchase tickets:

Single tickets to events are available for purchase through the ECSO and Garde Arts Center website at ectsymphony.com and gardearts.org, or by calling the Garde Arts Center box office at 860-444-7373, ext. 1.

In addition to a range of affordable single-ticket options—from $65 to as low as $12—the ECSO offers those under 40 years of age and active or retired military members $12 tickets in selected sections.

Ivy Walz, Mezzo-soprano:

Ivy Walz is a mezzo soprano known for her exceptional musicianship, colorful singing, and dedication to collaboration. She enjoys an enriching career as a vocal performer, vocal educator, clinician, and administrator. As an opera singer she has appeared in the Cincinnati Opera, Syracuse Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, the Spoleto Festival, Opera Ithaca, Tri-Cities Opera and Resonance Works. As an active concert soloist, she has been featured with Symphoria Syracuse, Binghamton Philharmonic, Akron Symphony, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. Her scholarship within art song, and especially the repertoire by women composers is flourishing, with recent performances such as a lecture recital comparing Robert Schumann’s Frauenlebue und Lieben to Libby Larsen’s Love After 1950, and song recitals Out of the Salon, and Art Song in a Time of Women’s Suffrage.

Recent invited performances are with the International Music by Women Festival, Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble, SongFest, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Denver Art Song Project, Civic Morning Musicals, and Middlebury Song Fest. She holds the DMA from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and a BM and MM from Ithaca College. She currently serves as Associate Dean of Faculty, Research, Creativity and Outreach at the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts at Texas Tech University, where she is also an Associate Professor of Voice. Previously she served on the voice faculty and as an administrator at the Ithaca College School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. ivywalz.com.

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The Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to announce our 2023-24 season lineup, curated by Music Director & Conductor Toshiyuki Shimada. Season highlights include the 100th Anniversary of Rhapsody in Blue, The Tom Brown 6, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Chorus singing Haydn’s Lord Nelson’s Mass, and international guest artists. From early fall to late spring, the 75-plus member professional Symphony Orchestra presents six subscription concerts annually, most of which feature guest soloists. Subscription concerts are primarily performed at the historic award-winning Garde Arts Center on State Street in New London.

Visit ectsymphony.com for more information and follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube) @ectsymphony. In addition to a range of affordable single-ticket options—from $65 to as low as $12—the ECSO offers those under 40 years of age and active or retired military members $12 tickets in selected sections.

Founded in 1946 by Norwegian immigrant Victor Norman, the ECSO is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving the eastern Connecticut region, including New London, Norwich, Waterford, Groton, Mystic, Old Lyme, and East Lyme. Recent concerts in Norwich, Willimantic, and Stonington reflect our renewed dedication to serving a broader area.

Our mission is to inspire, educate, and connect our communities through live orchestral music.