Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra: Resilience
BCSO Spring 2025 Performance at NEC's Jordan Hall
Image courtesy of Berklee College of Music
Join us for an orchestral tribute to the human spirit. Conducted by Julius P. Williams, this powerful concert explores the theme of resilience through a compelling program that traverses loss, courage, survival, and hope.
We are honored to feature two exceptional soloists: Susan Hagen, assistant professor of bass at Berklee, whose artistry brings depth and strength to the evening’s message with her performance of Simón García's Concerto for Amplified Bass, and John Paul McGee, assistant chair of piano at Berklee, performing Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s "Grass: Poem for Piano, Strings and Percussion," inspired by Carl Sandburg’s poem remembering those who have died in war.
Opening the performance are selections from Joe Hisaishi’s score to My Neighbor Totoro. Though whimsical and serene on the surface, the music speaks to a deeper emotional resilience, following two young sisters as they cope with their mother’s illness through wonder, imagination, and love.
Ethel Smyth’s Overture to The Wreckers is a bold and dramatic work portraying a coastal community's struggle for survival. Smyth’s score captures both the moral complexity and raw determination of a people willing to do anything to endure.
We will conclude the concert with Ludwig van Beethoven’s triumphant Symphony No. 7 which originally premiered to an audience of wounded soldiers.
Together, these works weave a tapestry of human endurance across vastly different circumstances—war and peace, myth and reality, despair and hope. As each piece unfolds, we are reminded that resilience is not just about survival, but about finding meaning, connection, and strength in the face of adversity.
We invite you to reflect, remember, and be inspired by music that speaks to the heart of what it means to persevere.
For more information about the orchestra visit: berklee.edu/bcso.
Berklee Students: to audition for the orchestra visit: https://college.berklee.edu/professional-performance/bcso-auditions