The thought of love may make the hearts of some to light up but an upcoming Valentine’s Day concert will explore the dark side of the emotion as well.
The Rockford Symphony Orchestra's "Love … It's Complicated" will feature works by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss and Johannes Brahms.
Yaniv Attar is the music director of the orchestra. He said he wanted to create a romantic program but then he realized a lot of composers' songs don't have a happy ending.
"If love wasn't complicated," he said, "composers would be out of work."
Linc Smelser is a professional cellist who’s played for the orchestra in the 1990s. He will share the stage with his daughter, Genevieve. They will perform Brahms' Double Concerto for Violin and Cello. Smelser said sharing the stage with his daughter will be exciting and meaningful.
"And the Brahms Double," he said, "how it's being pitched as a piece on this concert could be, perhaps the relationship between the two soloists, you know, Genevieve being my daughter, or kind of the love relationship between two instruments, like the violin and the cello.”
Tickets for those ages 6 through 18, are free for this concert and others throughout the 2025-26 season.
Smelser, who is also the conductor of the Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra, said introducing classical music to young people is important.
"We're kind of bombarded with, you know, phones and computers and videos and a lot of pop music," he said, "and there's nothing wrong with pop music. I mean, it has a place in our society, just like jazz and classical music does, but it's always good to be a well-rounded individual in terms of cultural experiences with different music."
"Love ... It's Complicated" takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Coronado Theatre.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
