Waltham Philharmonic explores “Darkness and Light” in May 3 concert

The Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra will present a program called “The Darkness and the Light” this Sunday, May 3, at 3 p.m. at Government Center. 

The WPO will perform Tchaikovsky’s Ave Verum, Fazil Say’s “Never Give Up” and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 3. Under the direction of Michael Korn, this program features acclaimed cello soloist Emmanuel Feldman, who will play contemporary composer Say’s piece, a work about striving for peace in turbulent times.

“The works on the program are not opposites, but reflections of one another, each giving meaning to the next,” Korn said.

Tchaikovsky’s Ave Verum is “a quiet meditation.” Inspired by Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, it “sets a tone of gentleness and hope as the light in its most intimate and fragile form,” he said.

“Never Give Up,” a cello concerto Say composed in 2016-17, is in itself a journey through darkness and light, Korn said. “Written in response to political terror, it is filled with urgency, defiance and anger. The darkness here is active and resisting. The solo cello becomes a voice that refuses to be silenced, leading us from turmoil toward a hard-won sense of peace.” Soloist Feldman has collaborated over the years with the WPO.

The final piece on the program, Sibelius’s Symphony No. 3, “offers a different kind of resolution,” Korn said. “Rather than a grand triumph, it reveals clarity with classical balance emerging from complexity. The light here is structural, almost architectural: order, coherence and forward motion after struggle.”

“Taken together, these works suggest that light is not simply the absence of darkness, but something we arrive at through it,” Korn said.

Tickets are available here. They are $25 (plus a $3.52 processing fee); free for children 5–17 years old accompanied by an adult.

Event details

Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra

Michael Korn, music director

“The Darkness and the Light”

Sunday, May 3, 3 p.m.

Waltham Government Center

119 School St., Waltham

Program 

Tchaikovsky: Ave Verum

Say: “Never Give Up,” Emmanuel Feldman, cello

Sibelius: Symphony No. 3