March 18, 2010 in Features

International lineup, Brahms, ballet headline Symphony season

• Print
• Email
• Share

Vladimir Feltsman, Oct. 23-24
(Full-size photo)(All photos)

The Spokane Symphony’s just announced 2010-’11 season features the three Bs – Brahms, ballet and Bugs Bunny.

It also includes an international lineup of soloists that includes Russian-born piano Vladimir Feltsman, Canadian fiddling whiz Natalie MacMasters, and the young Italian-born German violinist Augustin Hadelich.

The season opens Sept. 25 and 26 with an all-Russian program featuring Philippe Quint playing Glazunov’s Violin Concerto. Quint, born in St. Petersburg but a U.S. resident since 1991, was scheduled to perform with the orchestra last season, but was prevented from doing so by budgetary and scheduling difficulties.

Feltsman, who has performed with the orchestra in past seasons, will return early next season to play Brahms’ monumental Piano Concerto No. 2

The season will also include Gabriela Montero playing Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Montero bowed out of a Spokane Symphony performance last season to accept an invitation to perform at the presidential inauguration.

Another 200th anniversary will be celebrated with the young American virtuoso Orion Weiss performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Most of the conducting duties next season will be divided between music director Eckart Preu and resident conductor Morihiko Nakahara.

But the season also includes performances conducted by three guest conductors. Composer, arranger and conductor Jeff Tyzik will lead a SuperPops tribute to the Big Band music of the 1940s. Classics programs will be conducted by David Amado, the music director of the Delaware Symphony, and Daniel Hege, music director of the Syracuse Symphony.

The symphony’s SuperPops series includes soloists from famous families. Frank Sinatra Jr., opens the SuperPops series in October and the Brubeck Brothers Quartet closes the series in April 2011.

The theme for the symphony Casual Classics concerts is “CSI Spokane” exploring composers who died under unusual circumstances such as Lully and Tchaikovsky, or those with medically identifiable disorders like Mahler and Beethoven. A program of “Mistaken Identities” will feature composers whose work could be mistaken for that of another composer.

In addition to the standard repertoire of symphonies and concertos, next season will include less familiar works by Bohuslav Martinu, György Ligeti and Paul Ben-Haim.

Ballet Memphis will return in December for three non-subscription performances of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.” Other non-subscription special performances include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on New Year’s Eve, a special performance of “Carmina Burana” in March.

And, yes, lest we forget, the “wascally wabbit,” “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony,” will have two performances in October.

Chamber music ensembles made up of orchestra players will perform three chamber concerts in the Chamber Soirée series at the Davenport Hotel during the season.

The symphony has announced a new Club Maestro package available to audience members age 21-30, providing a $15 ticket and a $1 beer at any Classics concert, with the purchase of a $10 Club Maestro membership card.

The symphony is continuing its Symphony YES program for school children ages 8 to 14 at significantly reduced prices. Information on Symphony YES programs is available at the Fox box office (509) 624-1200 or at www. spokanesymphony.org.

No comments on this story so far. Add yours!