ASO Masterworks: Levity

With violin virtuoso Tessa Lark as our guest, Daniel Cho leads the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in a program that balances celebration with substance. Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst opens with a burst of energy — a short, propulsive work that has become one of the most-performed pieces by a living American composer. Lark then takes center stage in Bernstein’s Serenade, a violin concerto in all but name, inspired by Plato’s Symposium and brimming with the rhythmic vitality Bernstein brings to everything he touches. Brahms’ Second Symphony closes the evening — sunny and expansive, the most warmhearted of his four symphonies.