Tucson Orchestra Presents 'The Planets'

On Thursday and Friday, March 6 and 7 at 8:00 pm and Sunday, March 9 at 2:00 pm when George Hanson conducts the TSO in The Planets, the Tucson Music Hall lobby and plaza will be transformed into a laboratory filled with telescopes, computers and displays allowing patrons to study heavenly bodies before the performance and during intermission.

Joining the TSO for this interactive event celebrating Tucson's heritage as a cornerstone in the study of the universe are the Phoenix Mars Mission, Kitt Peak, Steward Observatory, Flandrau—the University of Arizona Science Center, the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association and Starizona. George Hanson's guests at his popular pre-concert talks will be Peter Smith, principal investigator for the Phoenix Mars Mission, on Thursday, March 6, and Tom Fleming, Associate Astronomer at the Steward Observatory, on Friday, March 7.

For The Planets the Phoenix Mars Mission will bring a clear case displaying two Mars globes. One globe is just a visible globe showing what Mars looks like. The other is an altitude globe which shows the varying altitudes across Mars. The display has short descriptions for each globe on the case. The exhibit will also have a 10-foot wide pop-up display summarizing the Phoenix Mars Mission.

"View Mars and Saturn before listening to Mars and Saturn," suggests Tom Fleming of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, celebrating its 85th anniversary this year. On the evenings of March 6 and 7, students will operate telescopes on the plaza in front of the Music Hall, allowing patrons a rare chance to view Mars and Saturn with their own eyes beginning at 7:00 pm, during intermission and after the performance.

Dean Koenig, owner of Starizona, the website and 13 year old astronomy shop on North Oracle Road, plans to have two computer monitors with a presentation of beautiful deep sky objects. The images were created using "Hyperstar," which allows a telescope to be converted into an amazingly fast f/1.8 imaging system.

Kitt Peak, celebrating 50 years 1958-2008, will have information about visiting the mountain plus hands on astronomy demonstrations ranging from meteorites to a variety of astronomical concepts like lunar phases to weights of objects on other planets.

Flandrau, the University of Arizona Science Center, will offer a tour of the solar system. Sam Kane, Associate Director for Marketing says, using images from NASA and the Explorer missions over the past decade, the tour, via a 32-inch monitor, will progress from the sun and pass each of the planets, giving patrons a birds eye glimpse of the most current imaging available.

The Planets, a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916, is the most-performed composition by an English composer. The elaborate score of The Planets produces unusual, complex sounds by using some unique instruments and multiples of instruments in the large orchestra such as three oboes, three bassoons, two piccolos, two harps, bass oboe, two timpani players, glockenspiel, celesta, xylophone, tubular bells, and organ.

Opening the program is Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, well-known to music lovers as a popular pairing with The Planets. Elgar dedicated the piece to "my friends within." There are 14 variations of a simple melody—musical portraits for his wife and friends. The beauty and whimsy of Elgar's Enigma Variations make it his most popular work, soaring with majesty one moment and tongue-in-cheek the next yet sometimes softly producing tranquility. -- www.tucsonsymphony.org