Conductor Michael Hall and the PGSO during its Discovery Concert featuring Dvorak's New World Symphony

By Tommy Osborne

PGSO Discovery

PGSO’s Discovery Concert makes classical music engaging and accessible to all

Feb 11, 2024 | 2:25 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – As part of its annual Discovery Concert series, the Prince George Symphony Orchestra (PGSO) explained and performed Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony. In the same way Dvořák discovered North America in the Symphony, PGSO Conductor Michael Hall helped the audience discover the magic behind the music by breaking down the piece and explaining the history behind it in the first half, before playing the piece in its entirety in the second half.

Going over details like the literary and cultural influences in certain sections, or how Dvořák would convey fluttering birds through musical cues like trills, Hall says the Discovery Concert is a fantastic way to deepen the audience’s understanding of classical music in an engaging but easy to understand way.

“I often liken it to if you go to a museum and you get one of these tours on the phone, and then you look at a painting and you’ve always loved the painting, but then you find out more about how the lighting is or what the artist trying to portray, and it opens up new vistas when you look at this painting from that point on. So it’s the same idea with a great piece of classical music. The more you know, the more you’ll appreciate it,” he said.

“It’s one of the most famous symphonies in the repertoire, which makes it a joy to play and a joy for audiences to listen to. But you may not know (the context of) ‘The New World.’ What’s that mean? When was it written? Why was it written? What was he trying to accomplish in writing the symphony?” Hall continued, when explaining the types of things you would learn at the concert.

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For music connoisseurs and newcomers alike, the audience clearly loved the show, as the PGSO earned a standing ovation as the final chord resonated through the crowd. For audience member Makayla Anderson, she said she knew about Dvořák and the piece, but learning about the cultural influences behind it deepened her appreciation of it.

“I knew that New World Symphony had to do with North America and the experience in North America through the eyes of someone from Europe. But I didn’t understand the different things that he was seeing. You can hear it in his music, but to hear it broken down into what he was actually bringing out was really cool,” she said.

“To hear how diverse Dvořák’s themes are, intertwining with the U.S. culture, it’s just amazing how he brings out kind of the European immigrants and the Aboriginal people and then the African-American spirituals. It’s really cool to see him bring in all the cultures and intersecting them, it’s not often that you find a piece that represents so many different demographics all weaving into each other,” she continued, when speaking on Hall’s demonstration of Dvořák’s cultural influences.

The Discovery Concert features a different piece every year, and while there won’t be another one this season there are still many opportunities to see the PGSO for yourself. You can view its full schedule here

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