Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra January 20, 2011

Maurice Ravel's 'Alborada del gracioso ("Morning Song of a Jester),' a work of stunning virtuosity contrasted with swooning love-lorn melodies opens this colorful concert. Harpist Yolanda Kondonassis graces the stage to perform Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera's Harp Concerto. Praised by Gramophone magazine for the "clarity, colour, and rhythmic vitality of [her] playing," Kondonassis is recognized as one of the world's foremost harpists. The concert continues its exotic fare with Debussy's intoxicatingly poetic 'Danses Sacre et Profane' and closes with Ottorino Respighi's engaging symphonic poem, 'Pines of Rome.'