BGSU Philharmonia, Planetarium explore ‘The Planets’

BOWLING GREEN, O,—The Bowling Green Philharmonia will take audiences on a musical and visual voyage through Earth’s solar system March 24 with two performances of Gustav Holst’s “The Planets,” highlighted by projections provided by the BGSU Planetarium and Dr. Dale Smith, planetarium director.

Both performances will take place in Kobacker Hall at the Moore Musical Arts Center, and will be conducted by Emily Freeman Brown, music director of the Bowling Green Philharmonia.

The first performance, at 10 a.m., is for schoolchildren. All fifth-graders from the Bowling Green elementary schools will attend, along with students from surrounding school districts. The concert will include introductions for each movement of the suite and the planets.

An encore performance at 8 p.m. that evening is open to the public. Advance tickets are $3 for students and $7 general admission and may be purchased online at bgsu.edu/arts or by calling the box office at 419-372-8171. All tickets are $10 the day of the performance.

Each of the seven movements of “The Planets” is named after a planet and musically expresses the characteristics of the astrological figure associated with it. The suite begins with “Mars, the Bringer of War,” and continues on through “Venus, the Bringer of Peace,” “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity,” all the way to “Neptune, the Mystic.” Audience members will be thrilled by visual projections of the planets that include the most recent images from space.

The Mars and Jupiter melodies are especially well known as they are frequently used in movies and commercials. Since it debuted in 1918, the English composer’s orchestral suite has remained popular and is frequently performed. Holst makes use of a very large orchestra with rarely heard instruments such as bass oboe, alto flute and euphonium to create a color spectrum that is evocative and appealing.