Pictures at an Exhibition
Scott Speck, conductor
Saturday, October 10, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, October 11, 2026 at 2:30 pm
Saenger Theatre
This concert, including intermission, is approximately 1 hour, 50 minutes.
Please review the venue’s security policies including the use of clear bags/purses only by clicking here.
Program
Valerie Coleman: Seven O’Clock Shout
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”
Bring the kids for FREE on Sunday!
Through MSO’s Big Red Ticket program, sponsored by Alabama Power Foundation and the Figures Foundation, students in grades K-12 can attend any classical Sunday matinee FREE when accompanied by a paying adult. It’s a great cultural opportunity and an amazing concert experience! Seats are limited, so please purchase tickets by phone at (251)432-2010. Please no children under 5 and no babies in arms. Want to bring a student on a Saturday? Student tickets are just $10.
Speck Speaks
Music Director Scott Speck discusses the concert
“What a blast to perform BOTH of Beethoven’s Fifths on the same concert! These are pieces well known to the Mobile Symphony audiences, but we’ve never played them together.
I just love the Emperor Concerto. It has everything great about Beethoven: grandeur, inevitability, awesome power, lilting melody, individual expression, and an emotional range that stretches from melancholy to elation. It also happens to be the piece I conducted in my second concert ever, way back in college — and every time I conduct it, I’m swept back to those early days. Of course, any successful performance requires a great pianist. I’ve admired Stewart Goodyear from afar for many years, and it’s a gift to perform this concerto with him.
As for the Fifth Symphony, it’s the very epitome of struggle and triumph. There’s nothing more momentous in all of classical music than those first four notes — fate knocking on the door, as Beethoven himself reportedly described it. It may be an oversimplification to say that this symphony takes us on one singular trajectory from darkness to light — after all, the second movement is a lovely oasis, before the agitated third movement once again takes up the struggle. But the triumph of the finale is so complete, so extreme in its victory, so successful in sweeping all trouble away (and in C major, no less!), that feels like we’ve won an enormous battle. In this way, Beethoven’s Fifth became template for the most dramatic symphonies by Mahler, Bruckner, Shostakovich, Sibelius, and so many other composers who described a monumental struggle in music. After the Fifth, nothing was the same again.
As you might imagine, performing the Fifth Symphony is an effort. It’s a physical and emotional workout. It’s not like tossing off a virtuosic overture or concerto. It’s more like giving birth. And you can’t play something like this every day. So, we’re going to make these two performances count!”
– Scott Speck, Music Director