Mendelssohn's "Reformation" Symphony was written in connection with the 300th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, which gives the concert a strong historical and spiritual center. Listen for the recurring chorale references and for the way Beethoven and Mendelssohn frame heroism differently: one through operatic urgency, the other through luminous lyricism and architectural control.

This closing program was chosen to celebrate American sound worlds that feel ceremonial, cinematic, and unmistakably theatrical. Listen for how each composer builds a different kind of grandeur, from Copland's open-air brass writing to Gershwin's jazz-inflected storytelling and Bernstein's restless, dance-driven energy.