A few things to know... Stoke your inner fire and celebrate the upcoming winter solstice with an evening exploring the season's icy majesty. Two symphonies by Jean Sibelius provide the perfect introduction to the Finnish composer's music— alternately austere and lush, shadowy and radiant. Hailed as a national treasure in Finland during his lifetime, Jean Sibelius's music has become synonymous with the country's icy landscapes and the warmth of its people.

In this program, Music Director John Storgårds leads the NAC Orchestra in two symphonies that showcase the captivating contrasts of this composer's music. Evoking winter's sweet melancholy, Sibelius's Sixth Symphony inhabits a tranquil realm of shivering winds and pale sunlight, where sound and silence merge in a haunting musical meditation. The Seventh Symphony then flows forward with music of radiant joy, from a heart-melting hymn for strings to moments of swirling energy one critic described as "the dignified calm of the human spirit in a hostile environment."

Opening the program, Storgårds continues his season-long exploration of Canadian composer Jean Coulthard's music with A Winter's Tale, in which she reflects on the power of hope in times of darkness and uncertainty. And Claude Debussy unleashes his poetic imagination in the hypnotic Nocturnes—musical snapshots of solemn clouds, moonlit festivities, and the haunting song of mythological sirens.