Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra to explore music of Shostakovich during Stalin’s Soviet regime Feb. 21

HOUGHTON -- The Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts will host the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra and their performance of "Shostakovich and Stalin: A Soviet Artist’s Creative Response," at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21. Come and listen as the KSO interprets the creative struggles of the Russian composer Shostakovich in reaction to disillusionment and persecution under Stalin’s Soviet dictatorship.

Tickets for adults are $19, youth tickets (17 and under) are $6, and Michigan Tech student tickets are free with the Experience Tech Fee. Presented by the Michigan Tech Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

According to KSO Conductor Joel Neves, the evening will present "A musico-dramatic and audio-visual exploration of the repressive climate that Stalin imposed upon artists in the 1930s, and how this shaped Shostakovich’s musical output. The Fifth Symphony -- the composer’s greatest masterpiece -- embodies Shostakovich’s creative response to Soviet demands for 'socialist realism' in classical music."

For tickets, go online, or call Ticketing Operations at Michigan Tech’s Student Development Complex (SDC), (906) 487-2073, or visit in person at 600 MacInnes Drive, in Houghton. SDC box office hours are 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. on Saturday, and noon - 8 p.m. on Sunday. Please note the Rozsa Box Office is only open two hours prior to show times.

For more details, please contact Dr. Joel Neves, DMA, Music Director, Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, jbneves@mtu.edu or (906) 487-2859.