The Mighty Pines: An Orchestral Forest Adventure

The Mighty Pines: An Orchestral Forest Adventure What happens when an orchestra becomes a forest? Find out at The Mighty Pines, our family concert for every generation. But the adventure starts before the lights dim. Arrive 30 minutes early and step into our instrument petting zoo. Get your hands on the violins, violas, cellos, and basses that will carry you through Rome. Feel the weight of a French horn. Pluck the strings of a harp. Talk to the musicians who play them. They love showing young ears what makes these instruments so special! Then, when you’re ready, take your seat. Ottorino Respighi’s symphonic poem Pines of Rome takes you on a grand tour of Rome’s most majestic trees, and the stories they guard. The journey unfolds in four movements, each a different forest, each painted in the orchestra’s most brilliant colors. First, the pines of a villa garden; shimmering, peaceful, full of birdsong. Then, deep into the catacombs, where ancient pines stand guard over sacred ground; darker, more mysterious. The Appian Way brings us to monumental pines, soldiers of stone and wood standing witness to history. And finally, the Janiculum Hill, where pines reach toward the sky in a blaze of orchestral triumph and light. This is music that tells a story. This is a forest you can hear. This is a force of nature that moves mountains, and generations experience it together.