Exhilarating fanfare, a new harp concerto and Holst’s Planets form the program 

By Peter Alexander Oct. 5 at 3 p.m.

The Longmont Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and conductor Elliot Moore will open their fall concert series Saturday evening with a concert titled “Shoot for the Stars” (7 p.m., Vance Brand Civic Auditorium; details below).

The program’s title comes not from music about literal stars, but other astronomical bodies: The Planets, Holst’s suite that portrays in music the mythical and astrological character of seven of the planets in our solar system. While the opening movement, “Mars, the Bringer of War,” is the most popular of the seven, it is later movements in the cycle that best reflect the composer’s fascination with mysticism and astrology—especially the last three, “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age,” “Uranus, the Magician” and “Neptune, the Mystic.”

The ending of the final movement is especially haunting, as an unaccompanied, wordless female chorus sings music of uncertain tonality. They get softer and softer as a door between them and the stage is slowly closed, and finally they vanish into silence.

Soloist for the concert will be harpist Rachel Starr Ellins, who has been principal harp with the LSO since 1996. Second harpist and first-call substitute with the Colorado Symphony, she has taught at CSU and maintains her own harp studio. She will play Harp of Ages by Michael Daugherty, a concerto that was commissioned by the Colorado Symphony and premiered earlier this year. 

An exploration of the history of the harp, Harp of Ages comprises seven movements, each based on a harpist of history or legend. These range from the Greek lyric post Sappho to Uhura on the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek to the Biblical David and Harpo Marx. Stops along the way include a Mexican convent and an Irish wedding. Known for his fluency in contemporary pop dooms, Daugherty even indulges in the blues at one point.

The concert will open with Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a fanfare by American composer John Adams that was written in 1986 for the Pittsburgh Symphony. An energetic and at times frenzied composition, it quickly became popular as a concert opener and was in fact the most frequently performed orchestral work by a living American composer during the 1990s. To this day, its insistent woodblock, excited brass chords and pulsing polyrhythms make it just about the most exhilarating way there is to open a concert—or a concert season.

Tickets for the full season, as well as Friday’s concert are available on the LSO Web page. You may see the fall concerts listed below.

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Longmont Symphony Orchestra
Fall 2023 Concerts

“Shoot for the Stars”
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore conductor
With Rachel Starr Ellins, harp

• John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
• Michael Daugherty: Harp of Ages
• Gustav Holst: The Planets

7 p.m. Saturday Oct.  7
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

“Mahler at the Museum” I—SOLD OUT
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore, conductor
With Ekaterina Kotcherguina, soprano

• Mark Crawford: The Social Dilemma Suite (World Premiere)
• Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major

7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21
Stewart Auditorium, Longmont Museum

“Shostakovich No. 5″
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore conductor
With Clancy Newman, cello

• Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan
• Ernest Bloch: Schelomo, Hebrew Rhapsody for cello and orchestra
• Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5

7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

The Nutcracker
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore, conductor
With Boulder Ballet, Ben Needham-Wood, artistic director

“Gentle Nutcracker”
Shortened, sensory-friendly performance of the Nutcracker ballet
1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Ballet
4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2
2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

“Candlelight: A Baroque Christmas”
Longmont Symphony, Elliot Moore, conductor

• Vivaldi: Gloria
• Other Christmas music form the Baroque era

4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16
Vance Brand Civic Auditorium

Tickets for all LSO concerts may be purchased through the orchestra’s WEB PAGE.