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

Featuring Boston Poet Laureate Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah Curated by Rafael Popper-Keizer Musical 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 Arnold Schoenberg: Notturno for string orchestra and harp Gerald Finzi: 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 Adagietto For 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 intimacy. Interwoven throughout the evening will be poetry read live by Boston Poet Laureate Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah, entering into dialogue with the music to paint a picture of the beauty found through love. Following the performance, audiences are invited to continue the evening over bubbly, sweets, and conversation in celebration of Valentines Day.