The Cape Symphony Orchestra presents “To The Sea” Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, June 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM at the Barnstable Performing Arts Center.

This season’s Masterpiece Series concerts are a vital component of the search for Cape Symphony’s next Music Director. Each will be conducted by a candidate for the position. Ticketholders will have the opportunity to share their thoughts in a survey to be emailed the week after the performance. We hope you'll weigh in!

Download a printable version of these Show Notes.

Cape Symphony

James Blachly, Guest Conductor
Cape Symphony Orchestra Musicians

Guest Artists

Sonja Tengblad, Soprano
Bradford Gleim, Baritone

The Metropolitan Chorale, Lisa Graham, Director 

Table of Contents

Program

About Today's Program

Tickets for “To The Sea”

Program

MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937)
Une barque sur l'océan

TORU TAKEMITSU (1930-1996)
Toward The Sea II

1. The Night
2. Moby-Dick
3. Cape Cod

Intermission (20 minutes)

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Symphony No. 1, "A Sea Symphony"

1. A Song for All Seas, All Ships
2. On the Beach at Night Alone
3. The Waves
4. The Explorers

Back To Top

About Today’s Program

Our concert opens with Une barque sur l’océan (A Boat on the Ocean), by Maurice Ravel.

Ravel (1875–1937) was a French composer, pianist, and conductor, renowned for exquisite craftsmanship, masterful orchestration, and virtuosic, intricate style. Une barque sur l’océan is the third and longest movement of Miroirs, a five-movement suite for piano composed in 1904-1905 and orchestrated by Ravel afterward. Each movement is dedicated to a member of Les Apaches (“hooligans”), a diverse group of musicians, writers, and artists which formed in Paris in 1903, meeting on Saturdays to discuss art, play music, argue about issues of the day, and generally collaborate and carouse (neighbors complained about the noise). Une barque sur l’océan is dedicated to French painter Paul Sordes.

The piece “reveals profound mysteries in its subtle shifts in orchestration,” says James Blachly. “It’s almost like looking down in a pool of glistening, shifting water with powerful waves emerging—and it allows us to explore the orchestral textures that only Ravel can create.” The music conjures the rise and fall of ocean swells, and the shimmering play of light on the water’s surface. Sit back and float along!

Tōru Takemitsu (1930–1996) was one of Japan’s most celebrated and influential composers, known for blending Western techniques with traditional Japanese aesthetics. His music often reflects a reverence for nature, with a gentle, flowing style emphasizing atmosphere over traditional melody or form and creating timeless soundscapes.

Toward the Sea was commissioned by Greenpeace as part of the Save the Whales campaign. There are three versions of the piece. Toward the Sea II, composed in 1981 for alto flute, harp, and string orchestra, is a serene, meditative work inspired by the spiritual themes of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Its three sections – The Night, Moby-Dick, and Cape Cod – reference the novel, and unfold like waves and drifting currents.

Intermission (20 minutes)

Your Cape Symphony Orchestra will now perform Ralph Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony with the Metropolitan Chorale and soloists Sonja Tengblad, soprano and Bradford Gleim, baritone. “Sea Symphony is a true love letter to the sea and to all who share that love,” says James Blachly. “While it is expansive and exultant, it is also a memorial for lives lost, with the journey across the ocean a powerful metaphor for life.”

A Sea Symphony is considered one of the most ambitious and distinctive first symphonies in the orchestral repertoire. Composed by Vaughan Williams between 1903 and 1909 (during which time he was briefly a student of Ravel’s), it was a bold entry into the symphonic tradition: It is one of the first symphonies to use a chorus throughout. The text comes from American poet Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Whitman’s transcendental and expansive verse about the sea, humanity, and the cosmos deeply resonated with Vaughan Williams’s own artistic vision.

The work’s four movements trace both a literal and metaphorical journey. The opening movement, “A Song for All Seas, All Ships,” bursts forth with grandeur, as choir and orchestra celebrate the vastness of the ocean and the spirit of adventure. The gentle second movement, “On the Beach at Night Alone,” offers introspection and mysticism, while the scherzo-like third, “The Waves,” vividly depicts the rhythmic motion of the sea. The final movement, “The Explorers,” extends the metaphor of sea travel into the spiritual realm, embracing Whitman’s vision of humanity’s eternal quest into the unknown.

“Williams’s music is close to my heart, and I began reading Walt Whitman in college,” reflects James Blachly, “so to be reveling in his texts now, all these years later, in Williams’s extraordinary, exultant setting of the poetry, is a real joy.”

We hope you, too, feel the joy of this performance.

Back To Top

Tickets for “To The Sea”

“To The Sea” will be performed at the Barnstable Performing Arts Center, 744 West Main Street, Hyannis, Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, June 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit capesymphony.org, call the Box Office at 508.362.1111, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or visit 2235 Iyannough Road in West Barnstable, MA. The Box Office is open Monday – Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. During concert weekend, box office operations move to the Barnstable Performing Arts Center where we can be reached only by email.

Only tickets purchased on Cape Symphony’s secure website or through the Cape Symphony Box Office are legitimate and guaranteed, and eligible for exhanges or credits in accordance with our ticket policies.

Back To Top

Behind the Scenes

Cape Symphony Board of Trustees and Staff