Dear Music Lovers and Supporters, This week’s music offering is The Polovtsian Dances by Alexander Borodin. The Polovtsian Dances form the final scene in Act 2 of Borodin’s opera Prince Igor. The recording is from a concert by the BSO in May 2015 and is on YouTube: BSO plays Borodin: Polovtsian Dances. About the music, Maestro Fred Devyatkin writes, “Alexander Borodin was one of the world’s most famous chemists of his day. His compositions have had such lasting appeal that now his reputation as a musical genius has superseded his medical fame. As the keynote speaker at a symposium in...

Dear Music Lovers and Supporters, This week’s musical offering is the 2nd Movement, or Vivace non troppo, of Symphony No. 3 composed by Felix Mendelssohn (1842). The symphony is popularly known as the Scottish Symphony inspired by a visit to the ruins of Holyrood Chapel at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland. The recording is from a concert by the BSO in March 2016 and is on YouTube: BSO plays the Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony, 2nd Movement. About the music, Maestro Fred Devyatkin writes, “Felix Mendelssohn was inspired by his travels to Scotland to write this masterpiece. A classicist in romantic...

Dear Music Lovers and Supporters, This week’s musical offering is the Mikado Overture. The music was composed by Arthur Seymour Sullivan for the 1885 comic opera The Mikado. The recording is from a concert by the BSO in February 2019 and is on YouTube: BSO plays Mikado Overture. About the music, Maestro Fred Devyatkin writes, “Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic 1885 operetta, The Mikado. The pit orchestras were spectacular, and this overture asked much of these virtuoso performers. This, a February 2019 performance, shows the BSO was also up to the task. Enjoy!” Thank you to everyone who has and continues...