Highlights of the classical music calendar include the Allentown Band at the Hellertown Heritage Day “America250” celebration and the Allentown Symphony Orchestra performing Gustav Mahler’s first symphony.

The Allentown Symphony Orchestra presents “ To Hell and Back!: Mahler’s 1st Symphony,” 7:30 p.m. May 16 and 2 p.m. May 17, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown.

“To open this concert, I chose a piece by Grazyna Bacewicz, which is the third work the orchestra has performed by this composer,” says Diane Wittry, Allentown Symphony Orchestra (ASO) Artistic Director and Conductor, adding, “It’s fun, exciting and sounds a little like circus music.”

Bacewicz wrote her high-energy “Overture” in 1943 during the Nazi Germany occupation of Warsaw, Poland. She wrote the work in defiance and as a message of hope and victory for the Allied Forces.

French horn guest soloist Erik Ralske and the ASO perform Richard Strauss’ virtuosic “Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 11,” a work described as a “youthful yet mature” masterpiece.

Although the concerto written by Strauss was dedicated to his father, an internationally-renowned horn virtuoso, his father never performed the work publicly, complaining that it was too difficult and had “too many high notes.”

After intermission, the ASO performs the famous four-movement “Symphony No. 1 ‘Titan’” by German composer Gustav Mahler.

Says Wittry, “The first segment is a tone poem with a storyline ‘Spring without end’ along with country folk dancing described as a joyous dance. Mahler later removed the storyline.

“The third movement was called ‘Human Comedy’ and you can hear ‘Frere Jacques.’ This movement is very much a parody inspired by an artistic work depicting forest animals carrying a hunter to a funeral.

“The final movement, ‘Inferno to Paradise,’ ends the journey with triumphal music, much like a chorale. It entails a showdown between hell and heaven which ends in glorious triumph with eight dynamic French horn players standing on stage. One could say that Mahler was a bit theatrical.

“Anytime you can hear Mahler, the sheer amount of sound and energy elicits excitement in the moment.

“When this work was presented, think about the time period and what other composers were writing. People weren’t prepared for it,” Wittry says.

Erik Ralske is principal horn player of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2010. Prior to that, he was a member of the New York Philharmonic for 17 seasons.

Ralske is a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College The New School for Music. He received Bachelors and Masters from The Juilliard School and has been a faculty member there since 2012.

“To Hell and Back!: Mahler’s 1st Symphony,” Allentown Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. May 16; 2 p.m. May 17, Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown. Free tickets for those 21 and under. Tickets: at the box office: 610-432-6715; https://millersymphonyhall.org

The Allentown Band performs the “Hellertown Heritage Day Concert,” 3:30 p.m. May 16, Heller-Wagner Grist Mill, Hellertown.

“We are really pleased to be part of Hellertown Heritage Day performing American music appropriate to celebrate America on this 250th anniversary year,” says Allentown Band Conductor Ronald Demkee.

The concert opens with “Commando March” (1943) by Samuel Barber, who served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

Barber, who composed for the band while stationed at the Technical Training Command, Atlantic City, N.J., described the work as representing a “new kind of soldier, one who did not march in straight lines” but “struck in stealth with speed, disappearing as quickly as he came.”

Next are John Williams’ “Liberty Fanfare” (1986), commissioned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, and Clare Grundman’s “Concord Overture,” commissioned by The President’s Own” Marine Band, which incorporates traditional tunes “Yankee Doodle,” “The White Cockade” and William Billings’ “America.”

Composer Frank Ticheli described his setting of “Shenandoah” as a work “inspired by the freedom and beauty of the folk melody and by the natural images evoked by the words, especially the image of a river.”

The Richard Rodgers and Robert Russell Bennet arrangement of selections from the World War II documentary television series “Victory at Sea” highlights several themes, including “Song of the High Seas,” “Beneath the Southern Cross” and “The Guadalcanal March.”

Concert selections include the Frank Erickson arrangement of songs from the 1969 Broadway musical “1776,” Morton Gould’s “Yankee Doodle,” Meredith Willson’s “76 Trombones” and Claudio Grafulla’s “Washington Grays.”

The program closes with an “Armed Forces Salute” and John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

Says Demkee, “It’s a joy to be part of an event that brings people together and to celebrate the community.”

“Hellertown Heritage Day Concert,” Allentown Band, 3:30 p.m. May 16, Heller-Wagner Grist Mill, 150 W. Walnut St., Hellertown. Free. No tickets required. Information: https://hellertownhistoricalsociety.org/event-list/heritage-day-2026/

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