Never before has an American symphony orchestra given the homeless equal billing with Charles Ives and Ludwig van Beethoven.
But this week, homelessness takes center stage in Benaroya Hall during a performance of Ives’ “New England Holidays” (aka “Holidays” Symphony), as part of a Seattle Symphony initiative that aims to build connections with the community.
During a performance of “New England Holidays,” an assemblage of four tone poems that celebrate what, to Ives, were the central American holidays of each season — Washington’s birthday (winter), Decoration Day (spring), the Fourth of July (summer) and Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day (autumn) — audiences will view intensely personal visual responses to the music that were created by clients of four nonprofits serving the homeless.
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