Hope for the future in SSO finale
Nicolas Ellis says it’s an honour to return to lead the SSO in this epic program. (Maxime Girard-Tremblay)
There’s a certain comfort in knowing the best is yet to come.
“It’s about the beauty of what lay ahead of us whether it be in life or beyond our current reality.”
That optimism is at the heart of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra’s And Tomorrow…, the final main stage performance of the 2022/23 season.
“It’s hard to imagine a better way to close the main stage season than with a program like this,” says guest conductor Nicolas Ellis. “Each piece of music, in its own way, looks at the promise of the future. It’s about the beauty of what lay ahead of us whether it be in life or beyond our current reality.”
“Every time I perform it, it feels more and more like me.”
From Richard Strauss’ themes of love and fidelity in Four Lieder, Op. 27, to the magical rebirth of Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird, this program was designed as a beacon hope for the audience. Saskatoon-born soprano Danika Lorèn will join the orchestra to perform Strauss’ four-song cycle, pieces he wrote to his wife as a wedding present. It’s music that renews Lorèn’s spirit each time she performs it.
For Danika Lorén the music is about human connection that surpasses distance and time. (Photo Provided)
“I actually first learned this cycle with Mark Turner accompanying me when I was in my late teens. Every time I perform it, it feels more and more like me,” says Lorèn. “These pieces bring me comfort and I believe in what they are saying. That there is an eternal quality to relationships, we carry the memory of each other. That they live on.”
Liszt’s Les Préludes, S. 97 and Tailleferre’s Petite Suite pour Orchestra round out the program with the composers’ look at life, death and our journey as human beings on this earth. Ellis says this concert, and playing in an orchestra is a great metaphor for life.
“We are all trying to be heard, achieve our goals, reach another level but, we are also here to listen, to communicate and to make sure everybody has the same right to express themselves,” explains Ellis. “I feel this music is the basis of what we hope our society will be. It gives us hope for the future and I know the audience will sense it. That they will leave the concert hall excited for the SSO’s next great adventure.”
