Alabama Symphony Orchestra: Beyond the Forest, Into the Sky

Beyond the Forest, Into the Sky takes you on one of the most dramatically satisfying journeys in the orchestral repertoire — from shadow and enchantment to open, blazing light.

The evening opens in the dark heart of a fairy tale. Humperdinck’s luminous Prelude to Hänsel und Gretel casts its spell before Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor seizes the room — restless, urgent, and searingly alive. This is Mozart at his most turbulent, music that never quite lets you breathe.

Then the world opens up.

Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral — one of the most breathtaking works written for orchestra in the last 30 years — fills the hall with light and space and grief and wonder all at once. And Stravinsky’s suite from The Firebird brings the evening to a close in triumph, its final pages among the most electrifying in all of music.

This is a program for first-timers and lifelong listeners alike — the kind of night that reminds you why live orchestral music is unlike anything else on earth.

Artists

Daniel Cho, conductor

Program to Include
HUMPERDINCK Prelude to Hänsel und Gretel
HIGDON blue cathedral
MOZART Symphony No. 40, K. 550, in G Minor
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird (1919 version)