Great works have been inspired not only by high-minded ideals, but also by the colorful music composers heard played as entertainment outside the concert hall.

The program opens with Dvorak's magnificent Terzetto, with its unique and rather unusual in its instrumentation for a string trio; two violins and a viola, followed by a special commission by the Festival from noted American composer, Todd Mason. The piece, written for solo piano, depicts the Greek legend of the runner, Pheidippides, trying desperately to reach Athens with good news of the battle at Marathon. The music, which will be premiered by Victor Stanislavsky, imagines Pheidippides’ 25-mile race where his frantic thoughts of the battle alternate with fevered dreams of loved ones and the glory of Greece. When he finally reaches the Acropolis, he proclaims “Hail, we are the winners!” thus saving Athens from their worst fears, then collapsing with his last word, “Joy!”

The Five Pieces in Folk Style by Robert Schumann are miniatures containing the simplicity, bold expression, and broad humor of German folk songs and dances. Concluding the concert is Poulenc's fantastic sonata for Clarinet and piano alongside Zoltán Kodály's delightfully folksy Duo for Violin and Cello performed by Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth.