In all cultures and throughout history, storytelling has played an important role in igniting our imaginations and in preserving stories for future generations.

Composers like Gioachino Rossini, Rickard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky were experts in bringing a story to life through music. We will bring their music to life as I conduct a performance of music based upon stories with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. March 12 and 3 p.m. March 13, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown.

Some stories are fully fantasy and involve mystical characters. These are often called fairy tales. Other stories are based on real events, although the reality of the details may have been greatly expanded as the story evolved through many generations.

One of the true stories that we will feature is the famous “William Tell” story from 15th-century Switzerland, which Gioacchino Rossini used as the basis for his opera of the same title.

The concluding strains of the “William Tell Overture” are perhaps among the most popular and well-recognized passages of music of all time because it became the theme for “The Lone Ranger” TV show (1949 - 1957) and radio show (1933 -1954).

The “William Tell Overture” opens with the cellos and basses announcing the sun rising over a lake. Then we hear raindrops and a violent storm, followed by the beautiful English horn solo playing a tune associated with the Alpine horn that cow herders had used to call in the cattle. Finally, there’s the famous trumpet call and the rousing galloping music that makes us want to shout “Hi-Yo, Silver!”

The second piece on the concert is from a story about an impish prankster, “Till Eulenspiegel,” that originated in German folklore. The real man named Till Eulenspiegel is said to have been born in Brunswick in the early 1300s. His tales were told in popular books over the centuries that narrated all of his escapades.

In the piece, “Til Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks,” by Rickard Strauss, Till gets into all types of trouble. He destroys carts in the market place, flirts with young girls, makes fun of university scholars, dresses like a monk, and eventually gets arrested and sentenced to death for blasphemy. All of this is told humorously through the music.

The final story on the program is from a 17th-century Russian folk tale about a puppet, “Petrushka.” Traditionally, Petrushka was a jester dressed in red and he often had a long nose. In the ballet, “Petrushka,” by Stravinsky, the puppet character falls in love with a beautiful ballerina, only to be devastated as the ballerina falls in love with the powerful Moor.

In the end, the Moor kills Petrushka, and we are left wondering if Petrushka was really ever alive, or was he just a puppet?

Joining the Allentown Symphony Orchestra for this exciting performance of “Petrushka” will be members of the The Ballet Guild of the Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, whose artistic director is Karen Kroninger Knerr.

We will be featuring Jesse Sani dancing the part of Petrushka. Sani was born and raised in Nazareth and attended the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts, Bethlehem. Sani has performed with dance companies in Miami, Philadelphia and New York.

The part of the ballerina will be danced at the Saturday night concert by Corinne Walden, a native of Bethlehem, and for the Sunday afternoon concert by Jillian Sinko, a Saucon Valley High School student.

The Moor will be danced by Maleek Washington, who has performed extensively with companies in Europe and the United States. He is on the faculty of the Joffrey Ballet School, New York City.

It is a rare opportunity to hear Stravinsky’s “Petrushka” performed by a full symphony orchestra combined with ballet dancers and lighting. Add to that two other exciting story pieces by Rossini and Strauss performed by a professional symphony orchestra of more than 75 members and you have a spectacular evening or afternoon of music.

“Meet the Artist,” noon March 11, Miller Symphony Hall.

Allentown Symphony Orchestra concert tickets: Miller Symphony Hall Box Office, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown; allentownsymphony.org; 610-432-6715

Diane Wittry is Music Director and Conductor of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director (USA), International Cultural Exchange Program for Classical Musicians, Sarajevo Philharmonic, Bosnia, and author, “Beyond the Baton” and “Baton Basics” (both, Oxford University Press).