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Friday, May 8, 2026 at 7:30 PMJames Lumber Center, College of Lake County
19351 W Washington St, Grayslake, IL 60030
PROGRAM:
Michael-Thomas Foumai — Concerto Grosso (2015)
Sepehr Pirasteh — When They Broke Down the Door! (2022)
Klaus Simon — Arrangement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 (2007)
The Lake County Symphony Orchestra closes its 2025–26 season with a program that explores how composers today engage with orchestral tradition while bringing new perspectives to the concert stage. Led by guest conductor Eli Chen, Roots & Resonance brings together three works written within the past two decades, each shaped by a different musical voice and cultural background.
The program opens with Concerto Grosso (2015) by American composer Michael-Thomas Foumai, a vibrant work written for the Kaplan Fellows of the Bowdoin International Music Festival. Inspired by the Baroque concerto grosso form, the piece places groups of instruments in dialogue with one another, highlighting the individuality and virtuosity of the players while maintaining a strong sense of ensemble.
In When They Broke Down the Door! (2022), Iranian-born composer Sepehr Pirasteh, who now lives and works in Philadelphia and holds graduate degrees from Central Michigan University and Temple University, draws inspiration from a poem by Persian literature scholar Fatemeh (Shahrzad) Shams of the University of Pennsylvania, translated by Dick Davis. Originally developed during the Fromm Foundation Fellowship at Harvard University, Pirasteh is preparing a new orchestration of the piece specifically for this performance by the Lake County Symphony Orchestra.
The second half of the concert features Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in a chamber orchestration by German conductor and arranger Klaus Simon. Mahler’s Fourth Symphony is the most intimate of his symphonic works, notable for its lighter orchestration and its final movement, which sets the song Das himmlische Leben (“The Heavenly Life”) from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Simon’s 2007 arrangement reimagines the symphony for a chamber ensemble, preserving Mahler’s distinctive colors while bringing the music into a more transparent and closely connected musical setting.
Presented with chamber orchestra forces, this program offers a different perspective on orchestral sound, highlighting the individuality of each musician while maintaining the breadth and expressive depth of the symphonic tradition.
🎟 Tickets:
Adults $30 | Students (w/ID) $10 | Children (5 and under) Free
Get Tickets: https://lcso.short.gy/May2026-Concert
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Event Venue
James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts at the College of Lake County, Grayslake, United States
Tickets
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