Classical Arizona PBS celebrates The Phoenix Symphony and former Music Director Tito Muñoz playing beloved favorites full of magic, mystery, and majesty.
Tito Muñoz served for 10 years as the Virginia G. Piper Music Director of The Phoenix Symphony. His tenure from 2014 until 2024 was one of the longest in the organization’s history. Tito now continues his relationship with The Phoenix Symphony as Artistic Partner. This broadcast is from February 6-8, 2026 and is a showcase of beloved favorites with virtuosic flair that also includes violinist Liza Ferschtman as the guest soloist.
The concert opens with music that will forever transport many of us back to childhood, and the image of Mickey Mouse wearing a magical hat and losing control of an enchanted broom in the 1940 film FANTASIA. Paul Dukas’s 1897 symphonic poem THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE – subtitled SCHERZO AFTER A BALLAD BY GOETHE – is one of the composer’s most famous and beloved works.
Dutch violinist Liza Ferschtman — known for her passion, virtuosity, and sensitive artistry – joins The Phoenix Symphony to play one of the monumental works of the violin repertory: Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47. The Finnish composer wrote his only violin concerto in 1903, then revised it in 1905. It’s profoundly virtuosic, sweeping, and dramatic, and Ferschtman frequently performs it.
The Phoenix Symphony concert continues with another beloved composition … one of Edward Elgar’s most famous works. His ENIGMA VARIATIONS – or variations on an Original Theme, Op.36 – composed in 1898-1899, are tuneful and charming and … MYSTERIOUS. Elgar tantalized us by creating his original theme melody with 14 musical sketches, and dedicating the work “to my friends pictured within.” BUT … he intentionally kept the secret aboutwho they are! Elgar presented them using initials, nicknames, and (in one variation) asterisks rather than revealing the names of the real people they represented.
Featured in this episode:
Dukas – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Sibelius – Violin Concerto – featuring Liza Ferschtman, violin
- I. Allegro moderato
- II. Adagio
- III. Allegro
Bach – Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV1005 – Largo – encore by Liza Ferschtman, violin
Elgar – Enigma Variations
- I. Theme – Enigma: Andante
- II. Variaton I (L’istesso tempo) “C.A.E.”
- III. Variation II (Allegro) “H.D.S-P.”
- IV. Variation III (Allegretto) “R.B.T.”
- V. Variation IV (Allegro di molto) “W.M.B.”
- VI. Variation V (Moderato) “R.P.A.”
- VII. Variation VI (Andantino) “Ysobel”
- VIII. Variation VII (Presto) “Troyte”
- IX. Variation VIII (Allegretto) “W.N.”
- X. Variation IX (Adagio) “Nimrod”
- XI. Variation X (Intermezzo: Allegretto) “Dorabella”
- XII. Variation XI (Allegro di molto) “G.R.S.”
- XIII. Variation XII (Andante) “B.G.N.”
- XIV. Variation XIII (Romanza: Moderato) “***”
- XV. Variation XIV (Finale: Allegro) “E.D.U.”
Beethoven – Symphony No. 6 – re-broadcast from 2022, conducted by Tito Muñoz
- I. Awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside
- II. Scene by the brook
