Heart Strings: The Most Beautiful Music in the World at Jordan Hall

Curated by Rafael Popper-KeizerMusical Program:Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D Major Elfrida Andree: Andante quasi recitativo George Walker: Lyric for Strings Fikret Amirov: Symphony for String Orchestra, mvt. 1 Schoenberg: Notturno for string orchestra and harpFinzi: Prelude for String Orchestra in F minor Op. 25 Pēteris Vasks: Vientulais Enģelis for solo violin and string orchestra Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor; mvt. 4 AdagiettoFor this year’s Heart Strings, A Far Cry’s most sentimental curator, Rafael Popper-Keizer, invites audiences into an evening of unabashedly gorgeous music for strings and harp: music of tenderness, longing, melancholy, devotion, and transcendent beauty. From the familiar warmth of Pachelbel’s Canon in D to the aching serenity of Mahler’s Adagietto, the program gathers luminous works that tug unapologetically at the heartstrings.Along the way, George Walker’s deeply moving Lyric for Strings mourns and remembers; Pēteris Vasks’ Lonely Angel offers balm for an aching world; and Schoenberg’s lush Notturno shimmers with late-night romance and dreamlike intimacy. Music by Elfrida Andrée, Gerald Finzi, and Fikret Amirov rounds out a program that moves fluidly between ardor, nostalgia, vulnerability, and wonder.Following the performance, audiences are invited to continue the evening over champagne, sweets, and conversation—because perhaps the most beautiful part of a concert is disco