PSO 2007-08 Season Concludes with Robert Moody Conducting, May 6

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 18, 2008 CONTACT: Amanda Flanagan, 207-775-2126 ext. 121 gBritt PR

PORTLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2007-2008 SEASON CONCLUDES WITH ROBERT MOODY CONDUCTING TUESDAY MAY 6 PORTLAND, Maine ’Äì The Portland Symphony Orchestra (PSO)'s 2007-08 season will close with a spectacular concert conducted by incoming PSO Music Director Designate Robert Moody on Tuesday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. Seating for this concert is extremely limited. Ticket holders are invited to attend the Concert Conversation at 6:15 p.m. in the Rehearsal Hall, led by Maestro Moody. The program opens with PHOENIX for orchestra, a work premiered by Robert Moody in 2007. Internationally recognized composer Dan Locklair's music has been performed throughout Europe and North America by many major orchestras, choral groups, chamber ensembles and soloists. Cellist Denise Djokic, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will join PSO as guest soloist on Franz Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in D Major. Already one of the most captivating young artists of her generation, Djokic has thrilled audiences and critics worldwide with the passion, vigor, and sensitivity of her playing. She has performed as guest soloist with every leading orchestra in Canada as well as many in the US and Mexico, and has toured Canada extensively, during which she was featured as the subject of the documentary film "Seven Days, Seven Nights." Her 2002 debut recording won her an East Coast Music Award for "Best Classical Recording of the Year," and during the same year, Djokic was a featured performer at the Grammy Awards. She was named by MacLean's magazine as one of "25 Young Canadians who are changing our World," and by ELLE magazine as one of "Canada's 30 most Powerful Women." The PSO's 2007-2008 season will close with Gustav Mahler's spectacular Symphony No. 1. Always a delight for symphony devotees and neophytes alike, the renowned piece was described by composer Arnold Schoenberg as, "’Ķa stretch of wild and secret country, with eerie chasms and abysses neighbored by sunlit, smiling meadows, haunts of idyllic repose. ’Ķan event of Nature, which after scouring us with its terrors puts a rainbow in the sky." The May 6th concert is sponsored by the Canadian Consulate General. The night before this concert, May 5, Robert Moody will conduct another performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in a special PSO Podium Prelude Concert. The event is designed to introduce Portland and the southern Maine community to incoming Music Director Moody with this celebrated piece of music. Tickets are still available for this hour-long performance at the special low price of $25 for any seat in the house. Tickets for all PSO performances are available now through www.porttix.com, by phone at 207-842-0800, or at the PortTix box office, 20 Myrtle St., Monday through Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.