This concert puts aside ideological debates and finds common ground in what it means to be human.  The first half, led by Philharmonia music director Andrew Koehler, will feature the uncategorizable music of Carl Nielsen Symphony No.3 "Espansiva", whose Third Symphony has moments that contrast, in the composer’s own words, “the gust of energy and life-affirmation blown out into the wide world” with “the purest idyll, the peaceful mood…in Paradise.”  Bach Fest Music Director Christopher Ludwa will conduct the second half of the program in stunning choral works by Vaughan Williams Toward the Unknown Region and Brahms Schicksalslied, both of which muses on what lies ahead after our time on earth.