New Philharmonic concert to feature Grammy winner’s ‘Harp of Ages’ and preview 50th anniversary season

“What I love best about performing for events, is knowing that we are all about to share a moment in time together,” said harpist Nichole Young. This time, Nichole is happy to be part of the eclectic and aspiring program “Harp of Ages & Pictures at an Exhibition.”

It will be presented by Maestro Kirk Muspratt and New Philharmonic on Saturday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, April 12 at 3 p.m. at the McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn.

The audience members will be among the first to learn about New Philharmonic’s 2026-27 50th Anniversary Season programming. In addition, a free MAC Chat will be held one hour before each performance.

New Philharmonic, the only professional orchestra based in DuPage County, has become one of the most popular orchestras in the Chicago suburbs because of its vibrant programming, strong leadership, and talented musicians. It has inspired classical music enthusiasts in Chicago and the suburbs for nearly five decades. Now, it continues to thrive and inspire its audiences with both classical compositions and modern works.

This concert program includes both a masterpiece called “Harp of Ages” by contemporary American composer Michael Daugherty and Maurice Ravel’s celebrated 1922 orchestral adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” which is one of the most beloved works in the orchestral canon.

The Times (London) called Daugherty “a master icon maker” with a “maverick imagination, fearless structural sense, and meticulous ear.” Daugherty, a six-time Grammy Award winner, is one of the most-performed living American composers. He is known for drawing on American popular culture, literature and history.

“The harp is one of the oldest and most beautiful instruments, from early civilizations to the present. Like the seven pedals on the modern harp, my concerto is divided into seven movements that reflect on many ages of the harp,” wrote Daugherty in Composer’s Note on his website. His colorful suite “Harp of Ages” has seven eclectic movements, each inspired by a memorable figure associated with the harp.

Among them are Sappho (seventh century BC), a Greek lyric poet who played the harp and (according to ancient lore) leaped from a cliff, Mexican poet Sister Juana, Nyoata Uhura (ca. 23rd century), a fictional character from Africa who sang and played the harp on the original Star Trek television series, David (ca. 1000 BC), a young shepherd from the Old Testament who played the harp to soothe the spirits of King Saul, and comedian Harpo Marx.

“My desire for each performance is to make space … to create an atmosphere in which we can all be transported to a place free from burdens and cares of the outside world, at least for a little while,” wrote Nichole on her website. Her credits include collaborations with Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Audra McDonald and Celtic Women, among others. Nichole will perform “Harp of Ages” at both New Philharmonic concerts.

The concert program will continue with Maurice Ravel’s celebrated 1922 orchestral adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

An innovator of the Russian Romantic tradition, Mussorgsky drew inspiration for “Pictures” from an 1874 memorial exhibition of paintings by his recently deceased friend, artist Viktor Hartmann.

“Blowout. Masterpiece. Quick summary: Mussorgsky had a great friend, Hartmann, who was an artist. He died suddenly at 37. So, all the people in Moscow got together, collected his artwork and had an exhibition to create some money for his family,” said Maestro Muspratt to the MAC Executive Director Diana Martinez during his interview for Backstage Buzz at the MAC. “Mussorgsky went and he picked 10 pictures, and he wrote music to them.”

While listening to this unforgettable work, the audience members will go on a vivid emotional journey, as each movement demonstrates a different painting and carries its own mood, feeling, and even its own world.

This bright composition will become a great conclusion of the season and will help the orchestra build a bridge to the next season. The announcement of the New Philharmonic’s 50th Anniversary Season programming will also become a great part of this concert program.

Tickets are $57, $55 senior, or $10 students/youth (for all-in price, add $3 a ticket. Additional fees apply online).

To purchase tickets, visit atthemac.org/events/harp-of-ages-pictures-at-an-exhibition/ or call (630) 942-4000. The McAninch box office is open Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m., and two hours prior to each performance.

Following each concert, the MAC box office will remain open for 45 minutes to accommodate patrons wishing to purchase subscriptions for the new season.