Phoenix Symphony with Sibelius and Britten

The Phoenix Symphony, established in 1947 in Phoenix, Arizona, is the state's only full-time professional symphony orchestra. It is celebrated for its diverse repertoire, spanning classical, pops, and innovative genre-bending performances. An ECHO Award recipient, the Symphony is recognized for artistic excellence, community engagement, and collaborations with renowned artists and institutions.

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods, widely regarded as his country's greatest composer. He is known for his significant contributions to symphonic and orchestral music, including his set of seven symphonies, the violin concerto, and symphonic tone poems such as Finlandia. His music drew heavily on Finnish myths and legends, particularly the epic poem Kalevala, and played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity.

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, was an English composer, conductor, and pianist who became a central figure of 20th-century British classical music. A prolific artist from an early age, he studied at the Royal College of Music and privately with Frank Bridge, gaining international renown with his 1937 Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. He is celebrated for his extensive body of work spanning opera, choral, orchestral, and chamber music, most notably his landmark 1945 opera Peter Grimes, the War Requiem, and The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Along with his lifelong personal and professional partner, tenor Peter Pears, he co-founded the English Opera Group and the prominent Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, and in 1976 became the first composer to be awarded a life peerage.