Gulf Coast Symphony’s Masterworks Series provides classical music lovers – and the uninitiated - with the rare opportunity to experience symphonic music viscerally. Maestro Andrew Kurtz explained.
“We have the brass and percussion on the stage and the strings in the dance floor area. The people who are sitting in the first row, they're so close, they could turn the pages on my score pretty much. The thing about sound is sound has a physical element to it. There's that physical force and when you're that present to the sound it's a very different experience.”
It’s the perfect setting for a trip through the centuries.
“Basically, I am going to take you on a journey from the beginning of classical symphonic music with Mozart and Haydn, then Beethoven, and go through some important milestones with different pieces of music by different composers that takes us to the 20th century and American music,” Kurtz noted.
Kurtz and the symphony will focus on firsts.
“If you don't know a lot about the history of the symphony and what's the difference and why these different composers were so important, these will at least be eight touch points of something new for you that will enhance your knowledge and it's great great music that we're playing.”
Kurtz provides the narration and the whole experience is just 80 minutes long.
There are two performances on Nov. 15 – a 2 p.m. matinee and 7:30 evening show.
MORE INFORMATION:
The history of the symphony is the story of human imagination — how composers across centuries expanded the orchestra’s voice to express humor, drama, beauty, and truth.
In “A Symphony of Firsts,” the Gulf Coast Symphony traces that remarkable evolution, from the elegance of the Classical era to the vibrant color of Romanticism and the bold clarity of the modern age. Each work reveals a moment of artistic transformation: Haydn’s wit engaging his audience, Mozart’s perfect balance of intellect and joy, Beethoven’s fearless innovation, Berlioz’s theatrical color, Debussy’s luminous atmospheres, and Copland’s open, distinctly American sound.
Together, these musical “firsts” illuminate how the symphony became one of humanity’s most expressive and enduring art forms — a reflection of our endless capacity to imagine, to feel, and to create.
Program:
Haydn – Symphony No. 94 “Surprise” (2nd Movement)
First: orchestral humor and audience engagement
Haydn turned the genteel symphony into theater — shocking his audience with that famous fortissimo “surprise” chord in the slow movement.
Mozart – Overture to The Magic Flute
First: blend of comic opera and serious counterpoint.
A perfect Classical overture — clear structure, bright spirit, and a glimpse of Mozart’s genius in balancing intellect and playfulness.
Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 (1st Movement)
First: symphony built from a single rhythmic cell.
Four notes changed everything. Beethoven transformed a simple motif into an entire dramatic architecture — the essence of symphonic development.
Berlioz – Roman Carnival Overture
First: Romantic orchestral showpiece.
Color, character, and virtuosity burst from this overture — a concert-hall distillation of Berlioz’s groundbreaking imagination and flair.
Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
First: symphonic poem of deep lyricism and passion.
A story told in pure sound — from conflict to love and tragic release. Tchaikovsky’s overture transformed Shakespeare into music’s emotional language.
Prokofiev – Symphony No. 1 “Classical” (I. Allegro)
First: great Neoclassical symphony.
Written “as Haydn might have if he’d lived in the 20th century,” Prokofiev’s witty miniature nods to the past while embracing modern harmonic bite.
Debussy – Nocturnes: “Nuages” (Clouds)
First: mature orchestral Impressionism.
Debussy paints the sky in sound — drifting harmonies and muted colors replace traditional form. A quiet revolution: music as atmosphere, not argument.
Copland – Fanfare for the Common Man
First: truly American orchestral sound.
Brass and percussion alone — bold, open, democratic. Copland gave voice to everyday heroism with radiant simplicity.
To learn more about each composer, visit Gulf Coast Symphony at the MACC: A Symphony of Firsts - Gulf Coast Symphony.
Change of pace: Matinee and evening performances on same day
“We added our matinees last year and they were extremely successful,” Kurtz observed.
“But we were doing a performance at night on Saturday and a matinee on Sunday. We've decided to do our matinee and evening performance on the same day.”
Eliminating the Sunday performance not only avoids conflicts with the church with which Gulf Coast Symphony shares space, it’s far better for the musicians. They’re no longer required to do a dress rehearsal, leave for dinner and then return for the evening performance. More importantly, scheduling dress rehearsal the night before will likely improve their performances the following day.
“It'll be a better experience for the orchestra in terms of their preparedness,” observed Kurtz. “Because the dress rehearsal is the night before, it allows them to think about anything that they really want to digest. It gives them that evening so that when we come in fresh in the afternoon, the performance can be even more dynamic.”
Proximity to the orchestra
The Music & Arts Community Center is an intimate venue. It is configured like a wide horseshoe. There are just 10 rows of seats, so even people sitting in the back of the theater are much closer to the orchestra than they would be at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Center or Hayes Hall at Artis-Naples. For people sitting in Rows A and B, it’s almost like sitting onstage.
“They’re three feet away from the violins or the cellos and so their experience is so much closer to what we're experiencing as the conductor and musicians,” Kurtz observed. “The music surrounds you. The music assaults you, physically.”
“It's an experience that you just don't get in many places because there's usually a 10- or 20-foot gap between the stage and the front row of seats,” Kurtz remarked. “It may not be much. At the BB Mann, it’s probably 12 feet to the very first row of seats, but 12 feet would put you four rows back in the MACC.”
It almost replicates the experience the symphony provides to children during concerts like Hogwarts’ Halloween and its holiday family concert, where the children are invited to sit onstage with the orchestra.
“Sound, of course, is a wave, so when the musicians create those different sounds there's a physical movement through the air that touches your body,” Kurtz said. “By the time that wave reaches the back rows, it’s dissipated. It's just like a wave in the ocean. It’s very different 10, 20 feet up the beach versus being at the shoreline when it breaks with all that energy. It's the same thing with sound waves. So, if you're an adult and you want to have that experience, buy Row A or B tickets and come to a classical concert or pops concert.”
No intermission
“A Night of Firsts” has just an 80-minute run time, and there are no intermissions.
“Normally, we do about 45 minutes then have an intermission, but I just felt if we're gonna really experience this journey and kind of see how things evolved over two, three hundred years. It made more sense to make it as one journey from point A to Z than interrupting it midway through,” Kurtz explained.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
