According to the Tribune-Review, the risk of bursting balloons was known to the orchestra beforehand, since resident conductor Daniel Meyer included a warning about them in his opening remarks.
The program also included Dvoršk's Carnival Overture, Rossini's William Tell Overture, Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, and Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. Artistic advisor Andrew Davis, a member of the orchestra's three-conductor leadership team, conducted.