Many composers’ music reflects their ancestral homelands. Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, the most popular concerto ever composed for guitar and orchestra, is inspired by the Royal Gardens at Aranjuez in Spain and features spellbinding Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas as soloist. Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 begins with the breadth and majesty of a Nordic landscape and ends with one of the most dramatic finales in classical music. Guest conductor Ankush Bahl leads The Phoenix Symphony in Armenian-American composer Alan Hovhaness’ popular and meditative Symphony No. 2, “Mysterious Mountain.”
