Dates With The Symphony Spokane Symphony Season Lineup Features Big Names And New Faces

The Spokane Symphony’s 1997-98 season includes such familiar names as pianist Horacio Gutierrez and Toni Tennille alongside such newcomers as violinist Tamkai Kawakubo and the Cherish the Ladies traditional Irish ensemble.

And the symphony will bring opera back to the Opera House.

The name that pops off the page of the symphony’s season announcement this week is that of Thomas Hampson. The world-famous baritone will not sing with the orchestra, though. Instead, the symphony is bringing Hampson to the Opera House in May to sing a solo recital something he has not done here since his days as a student at Eastern Washington University and Fort Wright College.

Season-ticket buyers will be given first choice for seats to the Hampson recital. Those tickets will become available to non-season ticket buyers after Labor Day.

Kawakubo will open the season in September playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. At 16, the Los Angles-born virtuoso is already a veteran of the concert stage. She has been featured in performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony and the Boston Pops. Kawakubo also has made television appearances on “Entertainment Tonight” and “Musical Encounters.”

In April, the orchestra will again stage an opera, a form missing from the symphony’s schedule since 1994. Spokane-born mezzo Linda Caple will sing the title role in Bizet’s “Carmen” with other principal singers still to be announced.

The Symphony Chorale will join the orchestra for “Carmen,” for a November performance of Gabriel Faure’s Requiem, for Holst’s “The Planets” in October and on the orchestra’s traditional Holiday Pops programs in December.

December will also see the return of the Alberta Ballet for performances of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.”

Piano soloists for the season include returnees Horacio Gutierrez playing Beethoven in January and Nelson Freire performing Liszt and DeFalla in May. New to the Opera House stage is former Van Cliburn Competition winner Christopher O’Riley in February and the yet-to-be-selected winner of this summer’s Cliburn Competition in October.

Also appearing again with the symphony is harpist Heidi Lehwalder performing the Ginastera Harp Concerto in February and cellist Gustav Rivinius on an allTchaikovsky program in March.

The symphony’s SuperPops series begins in October with vocal soloist Toni Tennille. Since her television success in the ‘70s with Daryl Dragon on “The Captain and Tennille” variety show, Tennille has branched out, singing on three solo albums, hosting her own syndicated talk show and singing in musicals.

Later in the season, traditional Irish song and dance will be represented by Cherish the Ladies, an all-women ensemble. Well, almost all-women; the group includes one male step dancer. The group, formed in 1985, has appeared on television in Europe and the United States and has shared the stage with performers such as the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

Other artists on the SuperPops series include Marvin Hamlish, composer for Broadway shows such as “The Goodbye Girl” and films like “Sophie’s Choice” and “Save the Tiger,” and conductor-trumpet virtuoso Jeff Tyzik. To close the SuperPops series, former symphony associate conductor Stefan Kozinski will return to play “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Violinist Martin Chalifour, recently appointed concertmaster of the Los Angles Philharmonic, will open the orchestra’s Symphony at The Met series in November. Chalifour won the 1987 Montreal International Violin Competition, and he has performed as a soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, and the Atlanta Symphony.

The Met series also will feature the symphony principal horn, Margaret Wilds, in Mozart and the Spokane Area Children’s Chorus in “Talking to the Sun,” a new work by Calvin Custer.

Most of the 1997-98 season’s concerts will be conducted by orchestra music director Fabio Mechetti. But Jung-Ho Pak, in his second season as the symphony’s associate conductor, will lead more frequently next year. He will conduct two of the orchestra’s Classics concerts, two of the Met programs and one of the SuperPops shows. He will also lead the opening concert of the Symfunnies family series with “Instant Conductor - Just Add Water.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 7 Photos (6 Color)

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SPOKANE SYMPHONY’S EVENTS FOR 1997-98 Sept. 19, Classics: Tamaki Kawakubo, violin; Fabio Mechetti, conducting. Concert repeated in Coeur d’Alene Sept. 21. Oct. 10, Classics: With Symphony Chorale, Mechetti, conducting. Oct. 24, Classics: Soloist to be announced; Jung-Ho Pak conducting. Oct. 18, SuperPops: Toni Tennille, vocalist. Oct. 26, Symfunnies: Family concert, Pak, conducting. Nov. 2 and 4, Symphony at The Met: Martin Chalifour, violin; Pak, conducting. Nov. 8, SuperPops: Marvin Hamlish, composer-arranger and pianist. Nov. 14, Classics: With Symphony Chorale, Mechetti, conducting. Dec. 4-7, Ballet: Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker,” with Alberta Ballet; Pak, conducting. Dec. 13-14, Holiday Pops: With Symphony Chorale and Spokane Area Children’s Chorus; Pak, conducting. Jan. 11 and 13, Symphony at The Met: Margaret Wilds, horn; Mechetti, conducting. Jan. 23, Classics: Horacio Gutierrez, piano; Mechetti, conducting. Jan. 31, SuperPops: Cherish the Ladies, Irish All-Women Ensemble. Feb. 13, Classics: Heidi Lehwalder, harp; Mechetti, conducting. Concert repeated in Coeur d’Alene Feb. 14. Feb. 27, Classics: Christopher O’Riley, piano; Pak, conducting. March 21, SuperPops: Jeff Tyzik, trumpet soloist and conductor. March 27, Classics: Gustav Rivinius, cello; Mechetti, conducting. Concert repeated in Coeur d’Alene March 28. March 29, Symfunnies: Gary Sheldon, conducting. April 17, Classics: Bizet’s “Carmen,” Linda Caple, mezzo-soprano; Mechetti conducting. April 24, SuperPops: Bravo Gershwin. Stefan Kozinski, piano; Mechetti, conducting. May 1, Classics: Nelson Freire, piano; Mechetti, conducting. May 10 and 12, Symphony at The Met: Spokane Children’s Chorus; Pak, conducting. May 29, special event: Thomas Hampson, baritone, in recital. Series tickets prices are: Classics, $112 to $233; SuperPops, $79 to $160; Symphony at The Met, $36 to $53; Symfunnies, $13. Take Five (3 Classics, 1 Super Pops, 1 Met) $79 to $100. Individual tickets for the symphony’s special events: “Nutcracker,” $15.50 to $29.50 (some seats for children, $13.50); Holiday Pops, $13.50 to $19.50 (some seats for children, $9.50); Thomas Hampson recital, $18 to $38. Tickets and more information is available at the symphony ticket office, 624-1200.