Three days before the Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s world premiere of Stephen Paulus’s Dylan Thomas Songs, the orchestra and the University of Arizona Poetry Center will host a special concert preview focusing on the work. The preview, scheduled to take place on October 26 at the poetry center, will include the participation of TSO Music Director George Hanson; Stephen Paulus; soprano Elizabeth Futral, the scheduled soloist for the new work; and TSO Principal Keyboard Paula Fan. Susan Hardy Aiken, a professor of English at the University of Arizona, will offer insight into the life and work of Dylan Thomas, three of whose poems are the focus of the Paulus work: “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”; “And Death Shall Have No Dominion”; and “This Side of the Truth.” The work was commissioned for the orchestra by Dr. Helen S. Schaefer, a benefactor of both the orchestra and the poetry center. In addition to the Paulus world premiere, the October 29 concert will also include performances of Verdi’s Overture to La Forza del Destino, and Futral will join the TSO for Strauss’s Four Last Songs.
Posted September 8, 2009
