In Collaboration with NC State Wilson College of Textiles
Mary Elizabeth Bowden, Trumpet Soloist
Sunday, April 12, 2026 at 4 PM
Stewart Theatre, Talley Student Union, Raleigh, NC
Peter Askim, Conductor
Jeff Scott, Composer
Mary Elizabeth Bowden, Trumpet
Featuring the World Premiere of a new work by GRAMMY-winning composer Jeff Scott
PROGRAM
Jeff Scott: Athena: Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (World Premiere)
Jeff Scott: Selections from The Journey
Gustav Holst: Mars and Jupiter from The Planets, Op. 32
Gilbert and Sullivan: “Minerva – Oh, Goddess Wise” from Princess Ida
John Williams: A Prayer for Peace from Munich
For the culmination of the NC State/Raleigh Civic Orchestra’s 10-year Premiere Project, the Raleigh Civic Symphony presents the world premiere of GRAMMY-winning composer Jeff Scott’s Athena: Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra. Renowned trumpet virtuoso Mary Elizabeth Bowden (Seraph Brass) will perform the work, a tribute to Athena, the Greek goddess of war and wisdom, and of weaving. The powerful, virtuosic work highlights the figure of Athena as a wise negotiator, imagining her bringing together warring factions in both ancient times and the modern Middle East.
The concert weaves together disparate traditions, cultures, and musics in a portrait of wisdom and a call for peace. With the concerto as the centerpiece, the concert will weave together the different threads of Athena’s life and legend. Music from Holst’s audience favorite The Planets, highlights both her lineage (her father Jupiter) and role in war (the Roman war god Mars). Gilbert and Sullivan’s aria “Minerva – Oh, Goddess Wise” extolls the virtues of the Roman equivalent to Athena, and John William’s emotional A Prayer for Peace (from Stephen Spielberg’s Munich) is a plea from the heart for peace, based in the Middle Eastern turmoil of the recent past.
The orchestra will collaborate with faculty from the Wilson College of Textiles in the premiere of new muti-disciplinary work set to Scott’s music. The project explores the role of textiles and weaving as one of humanity’s first integrative sciences — combining chemistry, physics, and mathematics — as well as representing and bringing together cultures. Weaving helps tell the story of a culture, bringing together disparate cultural and strands in a unified whole. Much as Athena’s role as a negotiator brings together warring factions in pursuit of peace, the threads of science, culture, and art are woven together along with disparate cultures, countries and musics.
