“In addition to presenting great music, the goals of the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra are to engage the community, advance education and build imagination through music, which I believe is a universal language,” says Dr. Paul Chou, Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra Music Director.

The first concert of the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra 2023-24 season, “Latin Connections!,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7, First Presbyterian Church, Allentown, exemplifies these goals.

The program includes “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla and Sergei Prokofiev’s classic “Peter and the Wolf,” the latter presented in Spanish.

This family-friendly program opens with “Peter and the Wolf,” a narrated children’s story with music accompaniment where various instruments represent characters in the story. Each character, in turn, has their own special theme.

“Peter and the Wolf,” translated as “Pedro y El Lobo,” features Spanish narration by Allentown Mayor Matthew Tuerk.

“This concert provides an opportunity for people to experience the arts who may not have had previous opportunity to enjoy them,” says Mayor Tuerk.

The second half of the concert features “Estanciones Porteñas,” translated as “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” by composer Astor Piazzolla.

Writing music representing the four seasons of the year has been popular among many composers, including Antonio Vivaldi, Franz Josef Haydn and Alexander Glazunov.

Piazzolla’s music differs in that each season is depicted by the popular Argentine dance form, the tango.

The soloist for this work is PSO Concertmaster Simon Maurer.

“Simon is a brilliant musician and this is a really tricky piece,” says Chou.

“Astor Piazzolla’s music is rooted in the Argentinian Tango, but he called his style ‘Nuevo Tango’ [New Tango],” says Maurer.

“The ‘Four Seasons’ do have some quotes of the famous ‘Four Seasons’ by Vivaldi, but it does not resemble Vivaldi’s work at all. Piazzolla’s ‘Four Seasons’ is spicy, gritty, romantic, suave, dare I say, sexy,” says Maurer. “He uses many effects that include noise-making, scratching and percussive slaps.”

“The original music is written for bandoneon, electric guitar, piano and strings and, as you can imagine, it is very difficult to find a bandoneon player,” says Chou. “That said, we have a wonderful arrangement for chamber orchestra by Leonid Desyatnikov. It’s a fun piece with riveting rhythms.”

“If you have never heard Piazzolla’s ‘Four Seasons,’ come and enjoy the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra performance October 7,” says Maurer.

“Latin Connections!,” Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7, First Presbyterian Church, Allentown, 3231 W. Tilghman St., Allentown. Tickets: at the door, Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra office, 1524 W. Linden St., Allentown; 610-434-7811; https://www.pasinfonia.org/

“Classical View” is a column about classical music concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com