April 30, 2026 – The Symphony of the Hills presents the final concert in the 2025-26 season, A Time to Soar – The Planets, on Thursday, April 30 at 7 pm.
Rod Leonard, bass trombone soloist
Professor Kim Arvidsson, guest speaker
The concert opens with the brilliant Strauss fanfare, made famous as the opening theme for the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. We feature our symphony bass trombonist, Rod Leonard playing Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Concerto for Bass Trombone, a colorful work which fully expresses our orchestra’s amazing talent and diversity. Our grand finale will be a multi-media presentation of Gustav Holst’s groundbreaking work, The Planets, with an astrophysicist providing a concert introduction, and a wordless women’s chorus echoing the music of the spheres.
Strauss – Also Sprach Zarathustra (Prelude)
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich – Concerto for bass trombone, strings, timpani, and cymbals
-3rd Movement
-Rod Leonard, bass trombone
Holst – The Planets -With Women’s Choir
