Mavericks

MAVERICKS celebrates the independent spirit, individuality, courage, and innovation of artists. The program opens with the Kentucky premiere of two co-commissioned works by Jennifer Higdon and Clarice Assad. Higdon's Cold Mountain Suite, an orchestral piece based on her opera of the same title, tells the story of a Civil War soldier tired of fighting for a cause he doesn’t believe in, who grapples with the decision to desert, and journey home. Trumpet soloist, Mary Elizabeth Bowden, joins the orchestra for Assad's Bohemian Queen, inspired by the life and surrealist art of American painter, Gertrude Abercrombie, known as "the queen of the bohemian artists." Tchaikovsky broke the "compositional mold" to express his turbulent personal life and inner turmoil through his Symphony No. 4, an audience-favorite that evokes strong emotions and marked a dramatic departure in his composition form from the traditional sonata.