Masterworks Series Masterworks: English Light

Elgar’s Enigma Variations & Vaughan Williams

Molly Turner leads the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in an all-English program anchored by two of the repertoire’s most beloved works. Elgar’s Enigma Variations is a musical portrait gallery — fourteen variations, each a sketch of someone dear to the composer — and a major showpiece of the orchestral canon. Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is altogether quieter: a meditation for string orchestra that seems to exist outside of time. The program also features Brahms’ _Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn_and Ethel Smyth’s “On the Cliffs of Cornwall” from The Wreckers, a vivid seascape by one of British music’s most pioneering yet undersung figures.

Thanks to our Masterworks series sponsor, Health Pros for the ASO.

Plan Your Visit

Conductor Comments is a free benefit to all ticket holders. Come early and hear insights that only the conductor can share. Offered on both Friday and Saturday evenings, from 6:15–6:35, the conductor offers history and context on the arrangements you’ll hear, along with insight into how the program flows together — a wonderful way to deepen your experience before the first note fills the hall.

The door is open when you arrive, and we’re glad to have you join us at any point — open seating, no reservation needed. Volunteers are on hand to help you find your way.

Join us in the Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall, found in the upper lobby of the Alys Stephens Center.

Artists

Molly Turner, guest conductor

Program to Include

SMYTH “On the Cliffs of Cornwall,” Prelude to Act 2 of The Wreckers

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis

BRAHMS Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn

ELGAR Enigma Variations, op. 36