El Paso Symphony Orchestra Concerts
Celebrate the Celestial World
Friday, November 15, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 7:30pm
Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra
Holst The Planets (Mars, Jupiter, Uranus) with Film
John Williams Star Wars: The Force Awaken Suite
El Paso, TX — The El Paso Symphony Orchestra’s November concerts are out of this world! The Friday, November 15 and Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 7:30pm, will present three movements from Gustav Holst’s groundbreaking masterpiece, The Planets, accompanied by a spectacular film produced by Emmy-nominated astronomer and visual artist Dr. José Francisco Salgado, KV 265 Executive Director.
Since the landmark public debut of Holst’s masterpiece in 1919, humanity has learned much about our celestial neighborhood, mounting ambitious exploration projects including the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Voyager probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope. On this weekend, science and music will beautifully combine in Holst’s magnificent score accompanied by a spectacular film featuring visuals from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as historical illustrations.
The film takes the audience in a journey through outer space examining Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, the Sun, and beyond. This Science & Symphony film, produced by Emmy-nominated astronomer and visual artist Dr. José Francisco Salgado, is renowned for its finely tuned choreography with the music, creating an overall stunning artistic experience. Dr. Salgado explains: “The film is not intended to be seen as a documentary but rather as an art piece that aims to inspire audiences and encourage them to learn more about our solar system and the Universe. It serves as a synthesis of what humans have achieved as solar system explorers.”
The November 15 and 16 concerts begin at 7:30pm at The Plaza Theatre and open with one of today’s most famous musical passages, Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra which was featured in the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Listeners will hear the Wyler Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ become a part of the orchestra in this magnificent piece. John Williams Star Wars: The Force Awakens Suite will round out the stellar program.
The November 15 & 16 EPSO concerts are generously sponsored by the Paul L. Foster Family Foundation. Multi-Media underwritten by BBVA.
LEARN MORE: Join EPSO prior to each performance at Opening Notes, 6:30pm in the Philanthropy Theatre, to get insights on the program, composers and artist.
ABOUT KV 265: KV 265 is a non-profit organization whose mission is the communication of science through the arts to communities in the United States and worldwide. It seeks to heighten appreciation and understanding of art, music, science, and technology, and to inspire further exploration of these disciplines among its audience members through multimedia concerts, lectures, and educational workshops. Four of KV 265 Science & Symphony films have been recognized by UNESCO for their value in education and public outreach. KV 265 has received two National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants to support its multimedia productions. For more information visit KV265.org.
ABOUT JOSÉ FRANCISCO SALGADO, PHD Astronomer and Visual Artist, Executive Director, KV 265: José Francisco Salgado is an Emmy-nominated astronomer (BS in Physics, Univ. of Puerto Rico; PhD in Astronomy, Univ. of Michigan), experimental photographer, visual artist, and public speaker who creates multimedia works that communicate science in engaging ways. As the Executive Director and co-founder of KV 265, a non-profit science and arts education organization, Dr. Salgado collaborates with orchestras, composers, and musicians to present films that provoke curiosity and a sense of wonder about the Earth and the Universe.
His Science & Symphony films have been presented in 200 concerts and have reached a combined audience of more than 400,000 people in concert halls, museums, and lecture halls spanning more in 15 countries. Orchestras that have presented these works include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, the San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, and the Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino. His first two films were named by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO as Special Projects for the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009). In 2012 his film Gustav Holst’s The Planets was chosen for Ravinia Festival’s One Score, One Chicago initiative. In 2014, his collaboration with composer Christopher Theofanidis, The Legend of the Northern Lights was premiered with Grant Park Orchestra to critical acclaim in front of 32,000 people. In 2016, his short film Carol of the Lights was commissioned by Keith Lockhart and Boston Pops and presented 33 times to almost 75,000 people.
As an experimental photographer, Salgado has visited more than 30 scientific sites in places including the South Pole, the Atacama desert, the French Pyrenees, and the South African Karoo and has contributed visuals to documentaries produced for the History, Discovery, BBC, and National Geographic channels. As a public speaker, he has given presentations about science and art in all seven continents, including a presentation at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
The El Paso Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
RECAP:
Opening Notes: Friday, November 15 & Saturday, November 16, 2019, 6:30pm Philanthropy Theatre (Free)
Concerts: “The Planets”
El Paso Symphony Orchestra
Bohuslav Rattay, Conductor
Friday, November 15 & Saturday, November 16, 2019 7:30pm Plaza Theatre
El Paso Symphony Orchestra
Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra
Holst The Planets (Mars, Jupiter, Uranus) with film
John Williams Star Wars: The Force Awaken Suite
Tickets: $46, $41, $35, $22, $16 and $9 and $12 for students plus applicable fees. Tickets may be purchase at epso.org, ticketmaster.com or by calling the EPSO office at (915) 532-3776.
