Alpharetta SymphonyConcert Companion
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Digital concert program

Impressions of Paris

A feast of French music, from Debussy’s dreamy Faun to Ravel’s unstoppable Boléro.

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Date
Concert
7:30 PM
Pre-concert talk
6:30 PM
Venue
Innovation Academy Auditorium

Program order

What you’ll hear

About 1 hr 10 min of music, in the order listed by the Symphony (subject to change). Larger works are split into movements, separate sections with short pauses between them. Audiences usually hold applause until the whole piece ends.

  1. Claude Debussy

    1894 · Duration: about 10 min

    Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

    Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune

    Debussy’s response to Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem about a faun drifting between dream and memory on a hot afternoon. Its floating harmonies and shifting colors changed the course of orchestral music.

    Listen for

    The solo flute that opens the piece, alone and unhurried.

  2. Claude Debussy

    1910 · Duration: about 3 min

    The Girl with the Flaxen Hair

    La fille aux cheveux de lin

    One of Debussy’s 24 piano Préludes: a short, tender portrait inspired by a poem by Leconte de Lisle, heard here in an arrangement for orchestra.

    Listen for

    A simple, song-like melody that begins completely alone.

    Needs confirmation Originally for solo piano. Which orchestral arrangement will be performed needs confirmation.

  3. Maurice Ravel

    1904–06 · Duration: about 9 min

    Five Greek Folk Songs

    Cinq mélodies populaires grecques

    Jayme Alilaw, soprano

    Ravel’s settings of five Greek folk songs, sung in French. Each is a miniature scene: a wedding morning, a walk to church, a boast, a song of the mastic gatherers and a joyful dance.

    Movements

    1. Le réveil de la mariée (The Bride’s Awakening)
    2. Là-bas, vers l’église (Over There, Toward the Church)
    3. Quel galant m’est comparable (What Gallant Compares with Me)
    4. Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques (Song of the Mastic Gatherers)
    5. Tout gai! (All Joy!)

    Listen for

    How each short song paints a completely different mood around the voice.

  4. Maurice Ravel

    1903 · Duration: about 16 min

    Shéhérazade

    Jayme Alilaw, soprano

    Three songs for voice and orchestra on poems by Tristan Klingsor, steeped in the Paris fascination with faraway lands around 1900. Not to be confused with Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral Scheherazade.

    Movements

    1. Asie (Asia)
    2. La flûte enchantée (The Enchanted Flute)
    3. L’indifférent (The Indifferent One)

    Listen for

    The solo flute in the second song, playing a serenade outside a window.

  5. Claude Debussy

    1891, orchestrated later · Duration: about 7 min

    Scottish March on a Popular Theme

    Marche écossaise sur un thème populaire

    Commissioned by General John Meredith Read, who wanted a piece based on his family’s traditional Scottish march. Debussy wrote it for piano duet and later orchestrated it.

    Listen for

    The Scottish tune passing from instrument to instrument in new harmonic colors.

  6. Claude Debussy

    1909 · Duration: about 8 min

    “Rondes de printemps” from Images

    The last of Debussy’s three orchestral Images, a celebration of spring built around the French children’s song “Nous n’irons plus au bois” (“We’ll go to the woods no more”).

    Listen for

    Fragments of a simple nursery tune flickering through the woodwinds.

  7. Maurice Ravel

    1928 · Duration: about 15 min

    Boléro

    Written as a ballet for the dancer Ida Rubinstein, Boléro is one long crescendo: the same two melodies repeat over a steady snare-drum rhythm while Ravel changes the instruments that play them.

    Listen for

    The snare drum’s unbroken rhythm, and the sudden key change near the very end.

Open the Listening Guide

Featured performers

On stage

  • Conductor

    Michael Giel

    Music Director, Alpharetta Symphony

    Michael Giel is currently in his third year as Music Director and Conductor of the Alpharetta Symphony. Since 2010, he has also served as Principal Conductor of Capitol City Opera Company in Atlanta and is the Associate Conductor of the Atlanta Pops Orchestra. Praised by ArtsATL for his “infectious onstage energy” and “vivacious demeanor,” he brings dynamic artistry to both classical and contemporary stages. Michael made his debut in the summer of 2025 conducting the Atlanta Symphony with Rumours ATL and Lindsey Stirling.

    He spent seven seasons as Associate Conductor of the California Piano Concerto Festival in San Jose, CA, and has performed across Georgia and Florida with ensembles including the Savannah Philharmonic, Gwinnett Philharmonic, Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, Ocmulgee Symphony, Gainesville (GA) Symphony, Albany (GA) Symphony, Coastal Symphony of Georgia, Rome (GA) Symphony, Atlanta Pops Orchestra, Ludwig Symphony Orchestra, Da Salo Solisti Chamber Orchestra, LaGrange Symphony, and Central Florida Symphony.

    Michael earned Bachelor’s degrees in Music Performance and Music Education from Valdosta State University and a Master of Music in Music Education from the University of Georgia. From 2008 to 2014, he served as Orchestra Director for the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program and has been a guest clinician for orchestra festivals in Atlanta Public Schools, Cherokee, DeKalb, Fulton, and Muscogee Counties.

    In the modern music arena, Michael has performed with and for artists including CeeLo Green, Gucci Mane, Rick Ross, Jadakiss, Nas, Evanescence, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Josh Groban, Chloe Agnew (Celtic Woman), John Hopkins (Zac Brown Band), Debby Boone, Il Volo, Debbie Reynolds, Barry Manilow, Michael Bolton, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Sarah Brightman, Lindsey Stirling, Il Divo, and the rapper T.I. in a pair of concerts in which Rolling Out Magazine said his conducting provided the “sonic magic.”

    A native of Atlanta, Michael lives in Brookhaven with his wife, concert pianist Catherine Giel. The two also perform together in the rock band Full Service, with Catherine on keyboards and Michael on electric bass. In his spare time, he is an avid tennis player and outdoor enthusiast.

  • Soprano

    Jayme Alilaw

    Guest artist

    Placeholder Official biography and photo coming soon.

Composer spotlight

Meet the composers

Choose a composer to learn more.

Claude Debussy

1862–1918 · France

Debussy rewrote the rules of harmony, building music from color, atmosphere and suggestion rather than grand statements.

Did you know?

  • He entered the Paris Conservatoire at just 10 years old.
  • He won the Prix de Rome, France’s top composition prize, in 1884.
  • Hearing a Javanese gamelan at the 1889 Paris World’s Fair shaped his sense of sound.
  • He disliked being called an “Impressionist,” though the label stuck.

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