Deep Exploration

Deep Explorationis a celebration of mankind's insatiable curiosity to understand the world around us and the role classical music plays in characterizing these accomplishments.
Deep Exploration
St. Pauls by the Sea - Jacksonville Beach - 5pm
Introduction to Also sprach Zarathustra, op. 30 (excerpt) - Richard Strauss
The Planets, op. 32 - Gustav Holst
And God Created Great Whales - Alan Hovhaness
ET Adventures on Earth - John Williams
This free, all-ages concert opens with the Introduction from Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, commonly known as the theme song from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Next, we hear selections from Holst's The Planets - Mars, Jupiter and Venus. Composed in 1915, these works are thrilling psychological profiles of the planets rooted in Greek and Roman mythology. It is incredible to think that 8 decades later, exploration of these planets through probes and rovers has given us a scientific understanding of these planets' geological compositions. Holst characterizes Venus as delicate and icy but, NASA's Mariner 2, which mapped the surface of Venus in 1962, proved that Venus is in fact hot- nearly 500 degrees! This summer, the Mars 2020 spacecraft is expected to launch and land at the Jezero Crater on Feb 18, 2021. One wonders what the next works inspired by the fiery planet may be!
Today, scientists tell us more is known about the surface of mars than our ocean. Alan Hovhaness's And God Created Great Whales, which uses live humpback and bowhead whale songs, begins to decode the sounds of the deep sea as he brilliantly blends the sounds of orchestra instruments with recorded whale songs.

Just as great explorers of recent decades have helped to shape our understanding of the world around us, great composers have given us works that push the boundaries of classical music and our emotional response to sound. The concert concludes with John Williams' ET Adventures on Earth.

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Time: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm