The Greenwich Symphony Orchestra will present a three-work program on April 11 and 12 at the Performing Arts Center at Greenwich High School, located at 10 Hillside Road. Performances are scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m., with Music Director Stuart Malina conducting and Boston-based performer Leigh Barrett appearing as narrator.
The program brings together three compositions connected by visual art, each offering a distinct approach to translating images into music.
Bohuslav Martinů’s *The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca* opens the concert. Written in 1955, the three-movement orchestral work was inspired by the Renaissance fresco cycle housed in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, Italy. Martinů composed the piece after viewing the paintings in person, and the score reflects the scale and compositional balance of Piero della Francesca’s work through sustained orchestral textures and measured pacing.
The second work, *Voices from the Gallery* by American composer Stephen Paulus, incorporates spoken narration alongside the orchestra. The piece presents a sequence of reflections tied to works of visual art, with the narrator guiding the audience through each section. Leigh Barrett will perform the narration.
Barrett, an actor, singer, and director based in Reading, Massachusetts, has worked extensively with theater companies across New England, including The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, SpeakEasy Stage Company, The Huntington Theatre Company, The Greater Boston Stage Company, and North Shore Music Theatre. Her early performance experience began in informal settings, followed by participation in school and church choirs. She studied at Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, where she earned a degree in Voice Performance. Her professional credits include both acting and directing, and she continues to work as an independent vocal and acting coach. Barrett has received two Independent Reviewers of New England Awards and three Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding Actor, along with the 2018 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. She is currently pursuing certification in Meisner in Music and in Emotional Regulation for the Artist and Voice Function.
The program concludes with Modest Mussorgsky’s *Pictures at an Exhibition*, performed in Maurice Ravel’s orchestration. Mussorgsky composed the suite for solo piano in 1874 following the death of artist Viktor Hartmann, whose work is represented in each movement. Ravel’s 1922 orchestration expands the piece for full orchestra, assigning distinct instrumental colors to individual movements, including “Gnomus,” “The Old Castle,” and “The Great Gate of Kyiv.” The recurring “Promenade” theme serves as a structural element, representing a viewer moving between artworks.
The concert will take place at the Performing Arts Center within Greenwich High School, a venue regularly used for orchestral performances, student productions, and visiting artists. The April program continues the orchestra’s season schedule and reflects a programming approach that combines standard repertoire with 20th-century and contemporary works.
Tickets and additional program details are available through the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra.
