Strauss & Beethoven

Christopher Cerrone: The Age of Wire and String

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4

R. Strauss: Four Last Songs

R. Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks

Tito Muñoz, conductor

Conrad Tao, piano

Maria Valdes, soprano

English and Spanish translation projected above the stage.

2024

MESA ARTS CENTER

Friday, March 22 – 7:30 pm

SYMPHONY HALL

Saturday, March 23 – 7:30 pm

Sunday, March 24 – 2:00 pm

Tito Muñoz leads The Phoenix Symphony in two works by Richard Strauss, his witty tone poem Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, and his aptly-named Four Last Songs, a noble statement about a life well lived, featuring radiant soprano Maria Valdes as soloist. The dynamic pianist Conrad Tao joins the orchestra for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, a pinnacle of the repertoire as well as the final work for piano and orchestra that Beethoven performed. Opening the program is Christopher Cerrone’s The Age of Wire and String, a six-part orchestral suite that Cerrone composed especially for his good friend Tito Muñoz.