When a piece of music is needed for the heralding of an exciting and momentous occasion, Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” has become an ideal choice. It’s familiar, brief and invigorating. The composition has been used at opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games, countless sports matches, the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama and even as wake-up music for the astronauts on the Space Shuttle.

“Fanfare for the Common Man” signals that something wonderful is about to happen.

Soo Han, the new musical director of the Elkhart County Symphony, has selected “Fanfare for the Common Man” to open his first concert with the orchestra, a virtual watch party titled “Concert of Hope, Reflection and Joy.” The performances were recorded in January. Grammy-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion appears as special guest for a performance of Augusta Read Thomas’ “Selene: Moon Chariot Rituals.” With narration from host Rania El-Kareh, the free, online “Concert of Hope, Reflection and Joy” goes live at 7 p.m. Saturday.

In this context, Copland’s fanfare should capture the excitement that comes with the return of spring, the debut of a new conductor and the general happier turn in the zeitgeist as society cautiously emerges from the coronavirus restrictions that have made live musical events all but impossible for the last year.

“Copland captures hope, strength, power and perseverance,” Han says. “We couldn’t think of a better way to start off this concert.”

Thomas has emerged as one of the most accomplished American composers of our time, and her typically colorful “Selene: Moon Chariot Rituals” is an octet scored for the unusual combination of string quartet and percussion quartet. The title makes it clear that it’s a programmatic work, intended to conjure imagery of a goddess cruising around in the night skies. Third Coast Percussion’s David Skidmore says that Thomas’ score contains much more than music notation.

“One of the amazing things about Augusta Read Thomas is that her music is so expressive,” he says by phone from Chicago. “At almost every measure, there’s some sort of descriptive word or phrase to help us interpret the piece. It all helps make Augusta’s music more vibrant.”

Third Coast Percussion commissioned and premiered “Selene” with the Jack Quartet in 2015, and went on to make a recording of it with the Spektral Quartet. On first contact, much of the performers’ energy goes into just learning how to play a complex composition. Now, having put in all those hours of mastering the challenges, the percussionists had the chance to contemplate “Selene” more deeply this time around.

“This is our third iteration of the piece, and it’s been a lot of fun to really dig into it,” Skidmore says.

“We learned so much about what a percussion ensemble can do artistically, musically and technically,” Han says.

Han also learned a lot about how to negotiate health and safety protocols. The trickiest piece was Charles Gounod’s “Petite Symphonie” for nine wind instruments. Because wind players emit the most aerosols, the nonet was spaced widely throughout The Lerner Theatre for the session. The musicians also used cloth coverings over horn bells and remained masked whenever they weren’t playing.

Han, who was named successor to Brian Groner as ECS music director last fall, is committed to programming a diverse spectrum of composers. For this concert, he chose “Lyric for Strings,” a work by long-overlooked African-American composer George Walker. Its gravitas and remarkable beauty place “Lyric for Strings” in the same league as the much-loved “Adagio” of Samuel Barber.

“It’s such a sublime piece,” Han says. “We’re all reflecting on the difficult year we’ve lived through. George Walker composed this piece in memory of his grandmother, who had passed away. It’s fitting for us to play it as we reflect.”

The show concludes with a return to Copland with the concert suite from “Appalachian Spring.” Copland wrote the music to accompany a Martha Graham ballet, and Han says that the ballet’s plot is pertinent to the present performance.

“The storyline of that ballet follows a young couple starting their lives together,” he says. “They’re being warned of all the trouble they’ll come across, but at the end, they’re standing firm, proud and strong.”

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