Beyond the Grave With the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra and Roxie Zwicker

Sunday, August 19, 2018 3:00 PM

Beyond the Grave With the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra and Roxie Zwicker

Have you ever strolled through Portsmouth and imagined the history behind its quaint and winding streets? Wondered what the stories might be contained within the buildings as you walk past them and what spirits from beyond may be still telling their stories today? Heard music that thrilled and scared you and wondered why? Enjoy an afternoon of ghostly chamber music performed by harp, flute and string quartet coupled with tales from Portsmouth’s haunted history told by Roxie Zwicker, author of Haunted Portsmouth, NH. Zwicker will lead us on a journey through some of the most famous of the stories woven in with the music throughout the program. This program will be held at Little Harbor Chapel in Portsmouth, a charming New England church accessible by dirt road a stone’s throw from South Cemetery.

• Conte Fantastique began life as a tone poem Caplet composed for harp and orchestra in 1908, inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, The Masque of the Red Death.
• Afternoon of a Faun is Debussy’s depiction of a poem by Mallarme – in Debussy’s words “The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of Mallarmé’s beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it. Rather there is a succession of scenes through which pass the desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams of possession in universal Nature”
• Death and the Maiden was composed when Franz Schubert was trying to recuperate from a very serious illness, and realized he was dying (he ultimately only lived until he was 31. He was absolutely exploring the idea of his own death when he wrote the piece.

Featuring Erica Driscoll, harp; Aubrie Dionne, flute; Hannah Reitz and Jesse MacDonald, violin; Autumn Riley, viola; Dorothy Braker, cello

Tickets available at this link