The Auburn Symphony Orchestra collaborates with Seattle Pro Musica to present “A Sea Symphony” by Ralph Vaughan Williams at Federal Way Performing Arts and Event Center at 2:30 p.m. May 5. Tickets and information can be found at auburnsymphony.org or by calling the Federal Way box office at 253-887-7777. Ticket pricing is $42 for adults, $37 seniors, $12 students/families.

An additional performance will be given at 8 p.m. May 4 at St. James Cathedral in Seattle. Tickets are available through Seattle Pro Musica.

“All souls … all nations … all identities …” Walt Whitman’s lyrics are a stirring embrace of all of humanity. Combined with the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, “A Sea Symphony” uses the vastness and power of the sea as a backdrop for our search for meaning. Written for chorus, soloists and orchestra, “A Sea Symphony” will fill you with a sense of awe and wonder in the face of a boundless universe. Auburn Symphony Orchestra presents this work in collaboration with Seattle Pro Musica and their conductor, Karen P. Thomas, and featuring Susan Payne O’Brien, soprano, and Damien Geter, baritone.

ASO will perform “The Boatswain’s Mate Overture” by British composer Ethel Smyth, a cheerful piece which also contains Smyth’s defiant feminist spirit. The Boatswain’s Mate is a witty take on gender roles with the heroine of the story outwitting a retired boatswain who is scheming to become her suitor.

SPM will open the concert with “Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae” by Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi. This haunting work draws on folk song, news reporting, and the Requiem Mass to recount the ill-fated 1994 journey of the MS Estonia.

Learn more at auburnsymphony.org or email info@auburnsymphony.org.