The Wellesley Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, March 26 at 3pm will present a family concert featuring Benjamin Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” narrated by Brian Hagar-McKee, and cello soloist Brian Lee playing Shostakovich’s first cello concerto.

Britten’s guide features an overview of the players and each instrument in the orchestra, and ends with a fugue paired with a brass chorale.

Among the familiar music being played will be “Frère Jacques” (also known as “Brother John” or “Bruder Martin”) as interpreted in the third movement of Gustav Mahler’s first symphony, which features one of the greatest double bass solos in the orchestral literature.

Also being performed:

Modest Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, which was most famously featured in Walt Disney’s classic “Fantasia” movie as well as more modern commercials.
Contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor Joan Tower’s Sixth Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman—her response to Aaron Copland’s famous Fanfare for the Common Man.

Also, Brian Lee, winner of our 2022 Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition, will play the first movement of the Cello Concerto No 1 by Dmitri Shostakovitch.

Tickets are available online and are pay-what-you-can ($30 is suggested).

The concert is at MassBay Community College, 50 Oakland St., Wellesley. There is plenty of free parking.

All audience members are asked to show proof of COVID vaccination at the door and to wear masks at all times.