The LSO celebrates its 25th season of blending music, medicine and science with a concert featuring one of the grandest symphonies ever composed, preceded by a bubbly overture to toast the occasion.

Under the baton of music director Nicholas Bromilow, the LSO will present works by Quinn Mason and Anton Bruckner, in a free performance. Bromilow, a doctoral student in orchestral conducting at the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance, will give a pre-concert lecture at 3:15pm to discuss the works on the program.

The performance will be about 95 minutes long and will be performed without intermission.

It will open with Toast of the Town by Quinn Mason, which premiered in 2021 and will be conducted by assistant conductor Michael Roest. Described by the composer as “a festive and fun overture to an operetta that doesn't exist” it evokes light musical drama such as Gilbert and Sullivan and provides a suitable sense of celebration for the anniversary.

The showpiece of the concert is Anton Bruckner’s Symphony Number 8 in C Minor, which premiered in Vienna in the composer’s native Austria in 1892. It’s been likened to a “cathedral of music” because of its grand scale and themes, which draw from Austrian folklore, the composer’s deep faith, the music of Wagner and Beethoven, and even current events of his day. It transports the listener through darkness and light, despair and triumph, dreams and death, leading to a magnificent ending.

The LSO’s musicians include faculty, staff, students, alumni and their family members from across U-M’s medical, health sciences, life sciences and engineering community. The LSO is part of Gifts of Art, which brings the world of art and music to Michigan Medicine, U-M’s academic medical center.

The concert is open to all with no tickets required. Donations to support the orchestra may be given online at michmed.org/lso.