The Sault Symphony Orchestra launches its 2025-26 season with Autumn Echoes beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26 at The Machine Shop.
Stephen Mallinger, the orchestra’s artistic director and conductor, said he and his musicians are feeling good heading into the new season.
“The past several years of work after the pandemic are starting to really show right now. The orchestra is in great shape and we have some history under our belt now. With consistent membership we're getting a real stable core and sound,” Mallinger told SooToday.
The production includes Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Camille Saint-Saëns featuring violinist Erica Mancuso.
“She's a very fine player,” Mallinger said.
“The piece she will be playing is a really well known show piece. The introduction is very slow and lyrical and it's got a very exciting finish. It's got it all. It has everything you can do in 10 minutes.”
The program also includes Serenade by Johannes Brahms.
“Brahms wrote this as a study before he wrote a full symphony. He was really in awe of Beethoven's achievement as an orchestra composer and he wanted to write a symphony but he wanted to be sure he was up to it. So he wrote Serenade as a kind of practice before writing a symphony. He wrote four really fantastic symphonies and this was a kind of practice piece in order to be able to do that,” Mallinger said.
The first half of the orchestra's Autumn Echoes production ends with Nocturne from King Christian Suite by Jean Sibelius.
“Sibelius was a Finnish composer and we thought we'd do something to inspire the Finnish community here. This comes from a theatre piece about King Christian who was ruler of Denmark, Sweden and Norway in the 15th century. Sibelius was really heavily influenced by Norse mythology and Nocturne is a piece about the night time. It's a very beautiful piece,” Mallinger said.
Following intermission, the symphony will deliver a 35-minute performance of Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major by Ludwig van Beethoven.
“Beethoven of course is hugely important for our orchestra to play,” Mallinger said.
“All nine of his symphonies are the standard by which all other symphonies are measured. It's important for us to play them. With the instrumentation we have right now we can do it. In fact the orchestra that Beethoven conducted for his very first performance is exactly the same size as our orchestra.”
The Sault Symphony Orchestra has approximately 40 musicians.
“The binding element between all the pieces in the program is the fact that it's exactly tailored for our orchestra. The instrumentation that we have on hand at the moment is perfect. We can do them and play them properly. We can cover all the parts and get the full sound,” Mallinger said.
More information on the Sault Symphony Orchestra and ticket purchases for each of its 2025-26 performances can be found on the orchestra’s website.