The Southern Delaware Orchestra, also known as Sodelo, takes audiences on a musical river journey in a pair of concerts next weekend.
Titled “Sounds of Spring: A Musical River Journey through Europe,” Sodelo’s conductor James Allen Anderson says the program is bookended by a pair of works about rivers - Smetana’s Die Moldau and the famous Blue Danube waltz. In between comes the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, featuring UD faculty member Brianne Borden, and Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.
“We're not really sure why it was left unfinished," Anderson said. "There is some conjecture [that] he was grappling with illness. Some people believe that he actually felt the piece- the two movements - stood alone on their own, and I believe they do.”
Anderson says he chose the music to put listeners in a springtime mood.
“This ushering in of joy - a transition into, you know, the warmer weather lifting our experience. This is a really joyous program," he says.
Anderson adds that a concert inspired by water is a natural fit for the Sussex County-based ensemble.
“There's a great love of nature in southern Delaware. We're so close to the bay, to the ocean, and so coming up with a programmatic theme around water, I think was an easy one for this particular group," Anderson said.
Sodelo performs at Indian River High School on April 26 and Cape Henlopen High School on April 27. Both concerts are at 3:00 p.m.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
