Saturday, March 28th, 2026 | 7:30pm
Umstattd Hall | Zimmermann Symphony Center
2331 17th St. NW
Canton, OH 44708
DESCRIPTION
This concert will be conducted by Guest Conductor, Mélisse Brunet.
In keeping with Where Our Stories Meet, this program pairs two deeply personal responses to grief and remembrance on the eve of Palm Sunday: one drawn from Andean heritage, the other from the Protestant Reformation.
Gabriela Lena Frank’s Andean Elegy opens the program with music rooted in the cultural fusion of her Peruvian-Jewish-Chinese-Lithuanian ancestry. Scored for strings, this brief elegy blends Western classical form with Andean modality and rhythm, offering an intimate, outward-looking meditation on ancestry and loss.
Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem follows, performed with the Canton Symphony Chorus under the baton of Mélisse Brunet. Rather than setting the Latin Mass for the Dead, Brahms compiled his own libretto from the German Luther Bible, crafting a work not for the deceased but for those left behind. Brahms’s Requiem moves from grief to solace, ending in a quiet affirmation of comfort and renewal—one of the most deeply humanist works in the symphonic-choral repertoire.
PROGRAM
Adean Elegy…………………………………………………………………………Gabriela Lena Frank
Intermission
A German Requiem…………………………………………………………………Johannes Brahms
TICKETS
$12 / $27 / $37 / $52
All tickets, excluding children and students, are subject to a $3 processing fee. Must call for free and discounted tickets.
College Students (18+): FREE
Children 17 and under: FREE
Veterans, First Responders, Healthcare Workers, & Educators: 20% off
SNAP & Medicaid Recipients: 20% off
Groups of 10 or more: 20% off
Box Office: 330-452-2094
boxoffice@cantonsymphony.org
There will be a pre-concert lecture prior to this concert at 6:30pm in Foundation Hall.
2026 Art & Music Educator Awards
During this concert, we will celebrate the many art and music educators contributing to the rich array of high-quality and revered programming available to our youth in Stark County. Their service is tireless and often overlooked, so we invite you to join us in honoring their service to our community.
To learn more about the Art & Music Educator Awards, including how to nominate someone who you think is deserving of the honor, please click below.
Hotel Accomodations
The Canton Symphony Orchestra is a proud partner of Embassy Suites by Hilton at the Akron-Canton Airport, who have offered CSO patrons an exclusive rate to book rooms attending our concerts from out of town. To take advantage of this special offer, please click the link below or the image above. The rate is $135/night!
7883 Freedom Ave NW, North Canton, OH 44720 | (330) 305-0500
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Mélisse Brunet, Conductor
Renowned as a conductor of “uncommon emotional intensity” (Marie-Celine) and a “force at the podium”(Eugene Scene), American conductor Mélisse Brunet is a native of Paris, France with Spanish and Italian roots. She is quickly gaining attention on both sides of the Atlantic as “a skilled and polished conductor with an excellent pedigree…Brunet led the orchestra with panache and clarity, giving inspiring and assured renditions of each work.” (Cleveland Classical). In July 2022, she became the fifth Music Director of the Lexington Philharmonic, and the first woman to hold the position. She is also in her fifth season as theMusic Director of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic.
Brunet is one of the five conductors featured in the documentary “Maestra”by the Director Maggie Contreras and produced by David Letterman and Melanie Miller (“Navalny”). “Maestra” garnered 2nd place in the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary. The film’s exploration of Brunet’s daring journey at the international La Maestra competition and has received rave reviews in the press, including two articles in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Hollywood Reporter. | LEARN MORE
Jessica Leigh Bayne, Soprano
Jessica Leigh, soprano, is a versatile singing actress comfortable in a wide range of repertoire. Recognized for her artistic honesty and effortless vocal production, she is dedicated to creating an experience through music. This intentionality shines through each performance, whether it be Schumann’s tender “Mondnacht,” Violetta’s fiery “Sempre Libera,” or the heartbreaking “She Used to Be Mine” from Waitress. Ms. Leigh’s interpretation of the soprano solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 was described as “transcendent,” and her rendition of Fantine’s “I Dreamed a Dream” from the hit musical Les Misérables was noted for its “piercing delivery.” She has been part of numerous programs and companies including Opera Columbus, UK Opera Theatre, Opera Maine, Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, Bay View Music Festival, and The Lexington Theatre Company. Performance credits include the title role in Susannah, La Traviata (Violetta), Die Zauberflöte (Pamina), La Bohème (Mimì), Sondheim on Sondheim, and Songs for a New World. In October 2023, she made her debut with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra as soprano soloist for Carmina Burana and appeared with them again in March 2025 for Poulenc’s Gloria. | LEARN MORE
Sunghoon Han, Bass-Baritone
Sunghoon Han is a bass-baritone from Seoul, South Korea, currently in his first year in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. During the 2024–25 season, he will perform in the Program’s Patron Concert of opera scenes, Met Orchestra Workshop with Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and the annual spring recital series held at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Recent operatic engagements include Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro and Marco in Gianni Schicchi at Aspen Opera Theater, Gremin in Eugene Onegin and Nardo in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera at Indiana University, and several roles at Yonsei University including Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and Leporello in Don Giovanni. On the concert stage, he has appeared as the bass soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Carmel Symphony and in Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli with Yonsei University. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2024 as part of a Yonsei University alumni concert featuring standard works by Mozart, Verdi, and Brahms as well as Korean composers including Du-nam Cho, among others. He is an alumnus of the Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS Program, where he was a Renée Fleming Artist Fellow, and Korea National Opera Studio. | LEARN MORE
the canton symphony chorus
Permanently founded in 1983 by then music director Dr. Jeffrey H. Brandes, the CSO Chorus is an auditioned choral ensemble composed of all volunteer vocalists from the greater Stark County area. Chorus members come from all walks of life and have a wide array of choral experience levels. They are united by their love of music and strive to create a remarkable experience not only for the audience but also for themselves.
The view from the top of the stage, looking out towards the audience over a 60-piece orchestra is indescribably profound. Members of the chorus are able to sing with not only the Canton Symphony Orchestra, but also with some of the industry’s most renowned soloists and ensembles. Members have plenty of instruction and support to prepare for more difficult pieces, as some concerts feature choral parts in different languages, such as German, Italian, French, and more. The group is not just a supplemental piece to the CSO–it is its own community program that is meant to educate and support vocalists looking for a place to sing. | LEARN MORE
Composer Spotlights
This concert is supported by:
Presenting sponser
david jones
Participating Sponsor
