Music Director Valentina Peleggi leads an evocative evening of American music that explores memory, poetry, and the lyrical power of the human voice. The program opens with Philip Glass’s mesmerizing Company for Strings, a minimalist gem of emotional restraint and quiet intensity. George Walker’s poignant Elegy for String Orchestra follows, a work of deep reflection and soulful beauty.

The centerpiece of the evening features two celebrated vocal works: Aaron Copland’s Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson, a haunting and intimate song cycle that brings the poet’s introspective world to life, and Samuel Barber’s beloved Knoxville: Summer of 1915, a nostalgic, richly orchestrated reverie on childhood, based on a prose poem by James Agee. Richmond native Alicia Russell Tagert joins the Symphony with her “bright and effortless soprano” (Fargo Inforum).

A journey through the soundscape of 20th-century America, Voice of a Nation offers a rare opportunity to experience iconic works that illuminate the emotional and poetic heart of a nation.