Harold Shapiro Photo
William Boughton
The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is offering free concert admission to “active duty military personnel and their families,” according to a press release by the organization. The orchestra’s Blue Star Tickets Program is scheduled to kick off with a Nov. 10 performance of Ravel’s orchestral arrangement of his piano suite Le tombeau de Couperin, which recognized acquaintances killed during World War 1.
The Blue Star Tickets Program was established as a way for the orchestra to “welcome returning serviceman back into our community and thank them for their duty to the nation,” NHSO Music Director William Boughton was quoted as saying in the press release. “It must appear at times that we live in parallel universes for when they come home the vast majority of people are totally unaware of the sacrifices made for each and every one of us. To celebrate their safe return back to the warmth of their families and community is something we should all be grateful for.”
In naming the program for an iconic wartime symbol, the orchestra’s press release explains, “The Blue Star Service Banner was designed during WWI and represents a family member serving in the armed forces. The Congressional Record of 1917 notes, ‘The world should know of those who give so much for liberty. The dearest thing in all the world to a father and mother — their children.’”
The orchestra’s Nov. 10 program will also include Mozart’s Violin Concerto in B‑flat major, K. 207, with Ani Kavafian, Ives’ The Unanswered Question, and Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 in D major, Hob. 1:104 (“London”).
For more information about the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s Blue Star Tickets Program and the Veterans Day weekend concert program, visit this website.