To mark America’s 250th birthday, Orchestra Lumos and Music Director Michael Stern will give the world premiere on April 18 and 19, 2026, of Five American Portraits, an exploration of individuals and phenomena that left an extraordinary and indelible mark on our nation.
Stern talked with WSHU's Randye Kaye about the performance and what it means to be an arts organization in 2026.
Randye Kaye: A few years ago, Orchestra Lumos changed its name from the Stamford Symphony. Why was it chosen, and what does it represent?
Michael Stern: It represents a transformation of the Stamford Symphony, which has been around for decades. It's more than just a rebrand. It is owning the fact that we want to be the hub for music for all of Fairfield County and not just for Stamford. Because aside from the fact that we believe in the idea of bringing music out to the community, outside of the four walls of the concert hall, we have a big series of small space concerts, which hit many different places across the county, and the idea of not being a very small provincial little corner of one town in Fairfield County, but this established organization which has served music and the arts for so many different constituencies. That should be reflected in the name.
And so, we undertook that project a few years ago now, and I think it just shows our energy and our positive aspiration for the future.
RK: Talk to me a little bit about the importance of local orchestras, not just to, as you say, the city that you're in, but the entire county. How does that play into helping out the community?
MS: In a nutshell, I don't think that we can actually be a healthy, functioning, civilized society and community without the arts. To me, that's unthinkable because there's an artistic component to every facet of human life, and the ability to express that and to receive that, especially if you're giving that spark to young people, is essential.
I don't understand a world without art, without music, right? So if we can bring that, and I don't mean just the music we play, I mean art writ large across the board. So if we are going to play our part in that, we need to do more than position ourselves as being casual or occasional entertainment in a concert hall from time to time. We serve music in a fundamental way, which hopefully will elevate and transform people's lives and certainly bring them what they need when they need it.
The communication that happens when you play music or when you hear music, when you make music, it's not always tangible, but it's extremely impactful. I hate that word. Sorry, I don't like the word impactful. (But) It has a huge impact, and I think that when you can understand what that means, then you open yourself up to doing it, and you want to be at the heart of bringing that service to the community.
RK: I love that, and I'm totally on the same page with that. For me, I'm a horribly failed clarinet player from 8th grade, but I feel that when I sing with somebody or when I'm on stage, making eye contact with another actor, or making visual art,it is so important and what you do is so important. So let's talk a little bit about this upcoming Five American Portraits, a world premiere. So, how did this come about? Tell me about the five composers.
MS: So this is a little bit of a labor of love. It started with the idea that we were gonna celebrate America's 250th, but the celebration is tempered by the reality that I think this is a moment for reflection and for deeper understanding. The fact that our country and our democracy have evolved over 250 years is in and of itself a remarkable story. It's a unique story in the annals of Western history, and I think that this idea of the invention of a democracy for people, having survived two and a half centuries, and now wherever you are in the world, one will easily admit that we are in a fraught time. I think this demands of us a moment of introspection, but also a moment of real appreciation for the things that are good and understanding, especially given the idea that what we were just talking about, where art fits into that, and where the creativity and the inspiration of so many people across 250 years has made us who we are today.
I just knew that we could not represent what America meant with only one voice.
I put together this collection of five extraordinary composers, Christopher Theofanidis, Clarice Assad, Quinn Mason, Liam Cummins, and Nicky Sonn, each across the spectrum of age and experience, but each one of them bringing an American perspective that they hold dear to them, It's not just a pastiche of five portraits because they collaborated on a theme and variations which stitches the whole piece together and so this is one arc of an American experience reflective and worthy of our 250 years.
RK: That is so wonderful. So, where, when, and how can people get tickets to experience this extraordinary thing?
MS: Go to our website orchestralumos.org. We are performing on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., and the composers will be with us. You will hear from them.
We've also got a great program of Bernstein, Gershwin, Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring”, Rhapsody in Blue, and Bernstein’s “On the Town”. It's a really great celebration of American music at its most energetic.
RK: Tell me about the rest of the program and the other pieces of Americana that you, as a music director, decided to include in this program.
MS: Well, we decided this is our season closer, and we wanted to have a really uplifting musical experience. Three iconic names in American music, Leonard Bernstein with his remarkable score from the musical “On the Town”, all of that urban energy, mid-century energy, and Copeland's “Appalachian Spring”, which is a classic and a masterpiece of not only the ballet repertoire but the orchestral repertoire and very, very representative of his uniquely American voice’ and of course Gershwin's beloved “Rhapsody Blue” played by an incredible young pianist, Joshua Moon, who is joining us in his debut with us. It's gonna be fireworks!
So the world premiere piece and all of those great three established composers together make for an incredible concert.
RK: It sounds amazing! Michael Stern, music director of Orchestra Lumos, what an amazing experience coming up this weekend. Get your tickets now while you can, and thank you so much for joining us.
MS: A real pleasure to be with you, Randye. Thank you.
