Music & Space Festival

Michael Daugherty, Blue Electra
  with Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Gustav Holst, The Planets

Pre-concert conversation with Laura begins at 3:00 p.m.

Surging with electricity, myth, and raw orchestral power, this concert is part one of the Reno Phil’s Gillemot Foundation Music & Space Festival. At the center is Blue Electra by Michael Daugherty, a high-voltage violin concerto inspired by the life and mysterious disappearance of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. Written for and premiered by Anne Akiko Meyers, the work fuses amplified violin, driving rhythms, and striking orchestral color, reflecting Earhart’s daring spirit and unfinished final flight. That same elemental intensity expands outward into the vast, immersive universe of Gustav Holst’s The Planets, a triumph of orchestration, where driving momentum, massive forces, and stark contrasts create one of the most visceral experiences in the symphonic repertoire. Paired with stunning artistic multimedia projections, you won’t want to miss this concert.