
Paris to Pathos
Saturday, November 21, 2026
7:30 PM
Garde Arts Center: 325 State Street, New London CT
In November, the ECSO invites you on a transatlantic journey through two of the twentieth century’s most deeply felt orchestral works; one an irrepressible celebration of the City of Light, the other a tender elegy for a vanished American summer.
Guest conductor Simon Holt of Salt Marsh Opera leads Gershwin’s exuberant An American in Paris, a musical postcard bursting with jazz rhythms, Parisian street noise, and the giddy wonder of a young composer discovering the world.
Soprano Sarah Callinan then delivers one of Samuel Barber’s most intimate masterworks: Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Set to a prose poem by James Agee, this luminous piece evokes an American childhood through a child’s sleepy, wondering eyes. Callinan’s voice brings an extraordinary warmth and clarity to this profoundly moving work.
From the boulevards of Paris to a Tennessee front porch at dusk, this is a concert that reminds us why we love music and its power to take us somewhere else entirely.
Prices start from $45 to $70 each. If you are a senior citizen there are discounts for almost all seating areas. Are you Under 40 or an active-duty military member or veteran? Just have your ID ready and you get $12 tickets!
*Tickets $32-$84 / 10% senior & military discount *excludes Loge & Section A / no Under 40 / no $12 tickets
The Program
Gerswhin
American in Paris
Samuel Barber
Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 (Pathetique)

