Featuring Boston Poet Laureate Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah
Curated by Rafael Popper-Keizer

Musical Program:
Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D Major 
Elfrida Andree: Andante quasi recitativo 
George Walker: Lyric for Strings 
Fikret Amirov: Symphony for String Orchestra, mvt. 1 
Arnold Schoenberg: Notturno for string orchestra and harp
Gerald Finzi: Prelude for String Orchestra in F minor Op. 25 
Pēteris Vasks: Vientulais Enģelis for solo violin and string orchestra 
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor; mvt. 4 Adagietto

For this year’s Heart Strings, A Far Cry’s most sentimental curator, Rafael Popper-Keizer, invites audiences into an evening of unabashedly gorgeous music for strings and harp: music of tenderness, longing, melancholy, devotion, and transcendent beauty. From the familiar warmth of Pachelbel’s Canon in D to the aching serenity of Mahler’s Adagietto, the program gathers luminous works that tug unapologetically at the heartstrings.

Along the way, George Walker’s deeply moving Lyric for Strings mourns and remembers; Pēteris Vasks’ Lonely Angel offers balm for an aching world; and Schoenberg’s lush Notturno shimmers with late-night romance and intimacy. Interwoven throughout the evening will be poetry read live by Boston Poet Laureate Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah, entering into dialogue with the music to paint a picture of the beauty found through love.

Following the performance, audiences are invited to continue the evening over bubbly, sweets, and conversation in celebration of Valentines Day.