The National Steel Symphony Orchestra, under musical director Jessel Murray, is preparing to kick off its 2011 season today and tomorrow at the Lord Kitchener Auditorium of the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA). The orchestra will feature the works of Tchaikovsky and Chopin, among others. The concert times are today at 8 pm and tomorrow at 6.30 pm. Also featured will be Ray Holman's Changing Time which pays tribute to the evolution of the steel pan, the only music instrument invention in the 20th century.
Murray said patrons are in for a musical treat: "We will be offering performances from a wide variety of composers and arrangers. No one will go home unsatisfied." Renowned St Vincentian pianist Sean Sutherland is expected to join the Symphony to perform one of the defining pieces of the its repertoire, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor, Op. 23 Pytor Tchaikovsky. Vocalists Kizzy Ruiz and Christopher "Tambu" Herbert, dance companies Cascade Ballet, Metamorphosis and Susan Mohip are scheduled to perform.