Music

Ravel / La Valse

R. Strauss / Also Sprach Zarathustra

J. Strauss / Overture to Die Fledermaus

Weber / Overture to Der Freischütz

Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra | Conducted by Emmanuel Villaume
Gaillard Auditorium

“We are dancing on the edge of a volcano,” Ravel wrote in his notes to La Valse, quoting Comte de Salvandy. His score evokes the unsettled mood of European society after World War I. The concert continues in a similar prophetic vein with Richard Strauss’s epic tone poem Also Sprach Zarathustra. Also on the program are the overtures to Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus and Weber's Der Freischütz. The Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra performed under the elegant baton of Emmanuel Villaume, Spoleto Music Director for Opera & Orchestra.