From the sumptuous passages of Camille Saint-Saens’...

From the sumptuous passages of Camille Saint-Saens’ opera “Samson and Delila” to the “Antar” symphony by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, maestro Joseph Valenti has chosen a colorful program for the Peninsula Symphony’s season-opening concert today.

Saint-Saens was a child prodigy who at age 10 made his debut as a pianist and as a teen-ager astounded the Paris music community and composer Richard Wagner by playing at first sight the complete, complex score of one of Wagner’s operas.

As an adult composer he invoked many different styles with equal skill and seeming ease, and his work was marked by unfailing craftsmanship, suavity and grace.

While Saint-Saens made a splash in France, Rimsky-Korsakov was the youngest and most prolific and technically competent of the “Russian Five.” He at first set new directions in Russia by advocating free-form composition. Once ensconced in the St. Petersburg Conservatory, his views became more conservative and “technically correct.”

His symphony No. 2, the “Antar,” written in 1868 but not performed until 1876, is considered “program” music, depicting a literary story rather than abstract music developed in formal movements. The “Antar” is actually a tone poem depicting the hero and heroine in a folk tale.

Other works on the program will be Emil Von Reznicek’s Symphonic Suite in E minor and Alexander Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from “Prince Igor.”

This is the symphony’s only 1993 date. It will perform next year on Feb. 20, April 10, and May 22.

Sunday’s concert will begin with a lecture at 6:30 p.m. by Conrad Wedberg, the symphony’s musicologist, open to Palos Verdes Symphony Assn. members and their guests. The concert will start at 7 p.m.

The Rolling Hills Covenant Church is at 2222 Palos Verdes Drive North, Rolling Hills Estates.

Information: (310) 544-0320.