Love is in the air — and music — at Vancouver Symphony

She will get a recording of the concert, though, which is an extra offering from the symphony this year that she helped create.

“Last year we celebrated Melissa’s 50th birthday and we did a fundraiser for an extra concert,” said Igor Shakhman, orchestra manager. “Through it, the community raised enough money for this concert.”

It costs about $30,000 to put on a typical symphony show, he said. That includes paying for the orchestra, music rental, guest artists and rent.

Ticket sales pay for between 25 percent and 35 percent of that cost, with the rest paid for through private and corporate donations, he added.

This weekend’s concerts will feature light, relaxing music, including Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” with guest soprano Coral Walterman; Manuel de Falla’s ballet El amor brujo; and two Bizet suites from L’Arlesienne, Brotons said.

“The music of Bizet is very romantic, and the music of Falla is very appealing — there’s a lot of gypsy flavors,” Brotons said. “It’s very suggestive.”

The Barber piece was written in the early 20th century about a remembrance the composer had of spending a summer in Knoxville when he was 5 years old, Brotons said.

“The text talks about the ambiance of the South and the laid-back pace of life,” Brotons said.

Every piece in the show has a bit of a love story connected to it, Shakhman added.

“It will be an exciting concert,” Shakhman said. “It has a Spanish flavor, which is close to Salvador’s soul.”

It should be a great show to bring a date to, he added.

“Our concerts are friendly to everybody,” Shakhman said. “There’s a lot of parking, it’s affordable, the music is great. It will be a fantastic Valentine’s show.”