Nature's Song

• Event dates: April 11 & 12, 2026
• Showtimes: Sat 4:00 PM, Sun 3:00 PM
• Featured Artists:

  Avi Stein, Guest Conductor, Harpsichord
  Jae Cosmos Lee, Violin

  Location:
  Barnstable Performing Arts Center
  744 West Main Street, Hyannis, MA 02601

• Buy Tickets: /buy-tickets-natures-song

Masterpiece 4

Experience the beauty of nature through music in this evocative program celebrating the sounds of the natural world. From the mystical call of The Swan of Tuonela to the delicate avian portraits in Respighi’s The Birds, each expressive piece beautifully conveys the wonders of the wild. Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus weaves recorded birdsong into an orchestral tapestry, immersing listeners in the haunting soundscape of the Arctic.

Following an intermission, Concertmaster Jae Cosmos Lee will bring vivid depictions of nature’s changing moods to shimmering life in Vivaldi’s beloved The Four Seasons.

Ticketholders are invited to our "Musically Speaking" talk about the concert program. The talk begins one hour before the concert and will be led by Assistant Conductor Joe Marchio. 

Program

The Swan of Tuonela
JEAN SIBELIUS

The Birds
OTTO RESPIGHI

Cantus Arcticus
EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA

The Four Seasons
ANTONIO VIVALDI

Avi Stein, Guest Conductor, Harpsichord

Avi Stein teaches continuo accompaniment, vocal repertoire, and chamber music at The Juilliard School. He is the organist and chorusmaster at Trinity Church and the artistic director of the Helicon Foundation. Stein directed the young artists’ program at the Carmel Bach Festival and Musiktheater Bavaria’s International Baroque Academy, and he has conducted a variety of ensembles including Tafelmusik, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Opéra Français de New York, and Opera Omnia as well as the Amherst Early Music Festival opera and Trinity’s 4x4 Festival.

At Juilliard, Stein conducted Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in a production that toured to London’s Holland Park and the Royal Opera House at the Palace of Versailles as well as a production of Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo, which was named one of the best performances of the year by the New York Times. He also performed on the Boston Early Music Festival’s recording of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs, which won the 2015 Grammy for best opera recording. Stein studied at Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Southern California, and was a Fulbright scholar in Toulouse, France.