It's fun. It's laid back. It's Off the Cuff.

Off the Cuff blows the doors off the preconceived notions of classical music as Music Director Marin Alsop candidly parsesmusical nuance and delves into the lives and times of the composers. Maestra Alsop takes classical music appreciation to a whole new level by making it fun and engaging for any level of music enthusiast. And with performances running no longer than 90 minutes without intermission, you can
create an unforgettable night of your own, taking in the metropolitan area's fine culture and cuisine.

Subscribe to the Strathmore Off the Cuff Series

Analyze This: Mahler and Freud

Friday, November 5 at 8:15 pm
The Music Center
at Strathmore

Saturday, November 6 at 7 pm
Joseph Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall

Inspired by the BSO’s hit CSI: Beethoven program in 2008, this program reenacts the little known meeting in 1910 between Gustav Mahler and famous psychiatrist Dr. Sigmund Freud, where the two grappled with tensions and conflict that affected Mahler’s entire musical output and later led to marital discord. Join Maestra Alsop and “Dr. Freud” on the couch as they psychoanalyze the essence of Mahler’s relationship with his wife Alma, his music and his crippling fear of death.

Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony

Friday, January 21 at 8:15 pm
The Music Center
at Strathmore

Saturday, January 22 at 7 pm
Joseph Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall

Shostakovich set out to triumph over
adversity with his Fifth Symphony, an epic
work conceived in a time of great political
unrest in 1930s Russia. Marin Alsop walks
the audience through the period of scrutiny
and pressure that served as an impetus for
many of the composer’s most evocative
musical creations, including this work that
the composer allegedly subtitled, “the
creative reply of a Soviet artist to justified criticism.”

Prokofiev: Cinderella Suite

Friday, April 1 at 8:15 pm
The Music Center
at Strathmore

Saturday, April 2 at 7 pm
Joseph Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall

Following the enormous success of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, the composer was commissioned by The Kirov Ballet to write a score for the fairytale Cinderella. How was he inspired by the grandfather of Russian ballet composers, Tchaikovsky? Did an illicit affair color his perspective? Relish this classic fable with a musically personified cast of characters: Cinderella, her timid father, the nagging stepmother, the ardent prince and, of course, the hilarious and heartless stepsisters.

Schumann's Beautiful Mind

 

Friday, May 13 at 8:15 pm
The Music Center
at Strathmore

Saturday, May 14 at 7 pm
Joseph Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall

Music Director Marin Alsop explores Robert Schumann’s beautiful mind—one beset by
bipolar disorder yet still able to produce some
of classical music’s most original and inspired work. How does bipolar disorder affect the
brain? Are manic episodes responsible for Schumann’s bursts of creative genius that manifested itself in such profound music?
Explore these questions and more.