Classical MuSIC UNVEILED 

Join Rochester Symphony at Rochester Public Library for a series of presentations that reveal the hidden brilliance behind the masterpieces that will be performed during our concert season. Through recorded music excerpts and stories, Chia-Hsuan Lin (pronounced Jah-Shwen), Rochester Symphony Music Director, will share the history and musical elements that create an exciting listening experience. Guest artists and orchestra musicians will play music excerpts and demonstrations. Presentations will focus on music included in Rochester Symphony's upcoming concerts. 

Location: Rochester Public Library Auditorium, 101 2nd St. SE, Rochester, MN

All presentations are free and open to the public. No advance registration is required.

2026/27 Season Presentations

 

Friday, October 23, 2026 | 2-3 PM
THE INFINITE SEA

with featured guest, Brian Woods, piano

Join Chia-Hsuan Lin, Rochester Symphony Music Director, as she presents insight into Piano Concerto No. 3, by Sergei Rachmaninoff, a work of such virtuosity that it was once thought impossible to perform. Visiting piano soloist Brian Woods will share the artist's perspective on performing this monumental piece of music. Maestro Lin will also play recorded excerpts from La Mer (The Sea), by Claude Debussy, and explain how the composer brought the shimmering and powerful sound of the sea to life through music.

Thursday, November 19, 2026 | 6:30 PM
BEETHOVEN'S REVOLUTION

with featured guest, Luke Berkley, Rochester Symphony principal horn

Chia-Hsuan Lin, Rochester Symphony Music Director, explores music inspired by the great master of classical music, Ludwig van Beethoven. She will also discuss contemporary composer Anna Clyne’s Stride and Johannes Brahms’s choral masterpiece Song of Destiny (Schicksalslied), which contain themes of defiance and determination inspired by the program’s centerpiece, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica. She will share the story behind Beethoven’s vision of freedom triumphing over tyranny, and the ways this groundbreaking symphony revolutionized the musical world. Luke Berkley, Rochester Symphony principal horn, will join Maestro Lin to perform musical excerpts and demonstrations.

Wednesday, February 3, 2027 | 2-3 PM
JUPITER RISING

with featured guest, James Ferree, solo horn

Join Chia-Hsuan Lin, Rochester Symphony Music Director, and James Ferree, guest horn soloist, for a discussion of the music featured in the Jupiter Rising concert program. They will discuss the brilliant Strauss Horn Concerto, a masterpiece of lyrical beauty and technical power, and the exhilarating complexity of Mozart's symphony, Jupiter.

Thursday, March 4, 2027 | 2-3 PM
HYMN OF RESILIENCE

Chia-Hsuan Lin, Rochester Symphony Music Director, explores the music selected for the Hymn of Resilience concert program. She will explore the powerful expression of national pride and resistance to oppression that is Sibelius' Finlandia and Dvorak's jubilant choral hymn, Te Deum. Her talk will conclude with an exploration of Ralph Vaughan William's meditative Symphony No. 5, a gentle and uplifting respite from the violence and turbulence of World War II.

Thursday, April 22, 2027 | Time to be determined
DREAMS OF ENCHANTMENT

Join Chia-Hsuan Lin, Rochester Symphony Music Director, for a discussion of the music featured in the Dreams of Enchantment concert program. She will discuss the intimate longing of Dvorak's soulful Cello Concerto and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, a tale of beauty and resilience amidst danger.