Bravo to the Fort Worth Symphony on their absolutely amazing programming for their 2013-'14 season. I have long advocated for including a work by contemporary composers on every program presented by recitalists and chamber music organizations. This, or so the conventional wisdom goes, is not possible with a symphony orchestra. When asking for reasons why, the response is usually something enlightening like this: "mumble mumble marketing mumble audience mumble ticket sales mumble." 

Well, the Fort Worth Symphony has done exactly that, leaving the Dallas Symphony's recently announced 2013-'14 season looking like a mummified musical museum. And to top it off, the FWSO welcomes the 43-year-old Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy as their new Composer-in-Residence. The Dallas Symphony announced … Oh that's right; they don't have a composer-in-residence. Again. 

The unifying theme of the FWSO season is "Embrace the World through Music"—each Symphonic Series concert feature compositions called "Passport Pieces." These are works by composers from around the world, and not just Europe. Some composers are familiar, such as Hungarian György Ligeti, Estonia's Arvo Pärt and Denmark's Carl Nielsen. Other names are unfamiliar, but the range of countries is impressive. There is Pancho Vladigerov from Bulgaria, Alexander Arutiunian from Armenia,  Henry Lissant-Collints from South Africa, An-Lun Huang from China, Nikos Skalkottas from Greece and Peter Sculthorpe from Australia. 

Those who treasure the great classics—and who doesn't?—will also be pleased with the FWSO announcement. Superstar Yo-yo Ma will headline the April Gala. 

Highlights of the season, other than the contemporary composers: 

Their summer festival, which has been dedicated to American composers for the past two years, will take a completely different cold war remnant of a direction by calling it "From Russia With Love." Shades of .007.  Running August 23-25, 2013, the FWSO will feature the debut performances of three finalists from the 14th Van Cliburn Piano Competition, we will have just found out who they are right before the festival,  playing three of Rachmaninoff's massive concerti (No. 1, 2 and 3). This will be paired with Tchaikovsky's three masterpieces, his Symphonies 4, 5 and 6.  Music Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya will conduct. 

In September, Pianist Jon Nakamatsu and conductor Jeff Tyzik will present an evening of Gershwin, which will feature the overplayed, but always welcome, Rhapsody in Blue. 

October will see the return of guest conductors Mei-Ann Chen, who looks like she is on a trampoline but gets good results, and Rossen Milanov. 

November brings Joshua Weilerstein, conductor and Adam Golka, piano playing Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2, a work that is memorizing from the opening gentle horn solo to the thrilling ending. 

In January, Miguel Harth-Bedoya will present a concert that pairs two of Prokofiev's greatest works. Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers will play his Violin Concerto No. 2 and Harth-Bedoya will conduct his Symphony No. 7. 

At the end of January, we will see the return of one of the most fascinating composition the FWSO has presented in recent memory. This is former composer-in-residence and Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Higdon's Concerto 4-3, which is on the symphony's new recording, Take 6. Guest conductor Alejandro Posada will be on the podium. This exciting work was commissioned by and will be performed by the two violins and one string bass that make up the Time for Three Ensemble. My review of the 2009 performance is here. 

The real treat will be on Feb. 21-23, 2014 with a grand performance of Mendelssohn's magnificent oratorio, Elijah. Harth-Bedoya will conduct, and baritone Jonathan Beyer, who will sing the role of Pong in the Dallas Opera's production of Turandot (April 5, 7, 10, 13, 19, 21) will sing the leading role. Local favorites mezzo-soprano Virginia Dupuy and soprano Ava Pine will be joined by tenor Jonathan Boyd, who impressed in the Fort Worth Opera's Don Giovanni. A combination of choirs will make up the chorus (TCU Chorale, Baylor Chorale and the Southwestern Singers). 

In March, the brilliant pianist Joyce Yang will return, who so impressed in her recital for the Cliburn Series that she made my Top Ten list in 2012. The review of that concert is here. In a brilliant stroke of programming, she will play Gershwin's Concerto in F, instead of some big virtuoso showoff piece. 

The equally fine pianist Steven Osborne takes the stage at the end of March in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.  2. Harth-Bedoya will pair that with a suite of music from Wagner's final opera of the Ring Cycle, Gotterdammerung. 

May brings a refreshing change of pace in the soloist category with trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth. When is the last time you heard a trumpet concerto on a symphony concert? Haydn's familiar concerto will be paired with an unknown work, a concerto by the Armenian composer Alexander Arutiunian. Harth-Bedoya will conduct. 

The big gala event will be on April 3 and will star one of classical music's few superstars, Yo-yo Ma. No program has been announced. 

Highlights of the 2013-2014 FWSO Pops Series include Broadway's original "Mary Poppins" Ashley Brown (Nov. 1-3, 2013), classically trained pop star Chris Mann (Feb. 7-9, 2014), and Five by Design's memorable Radio Days: A Salute To Troops (April 4-6, 2014). Pixar in Concert (May 16-18, 2014) makes its Bass Performance Hall debut to close the Pops series, bringing to life the memorable scores of Pixar classics like the Toy Story trilogy, UP!, The Incredibles and more. 

Special Events of the 2013-'14 season include holiday offerings like Handel's Messiah (Dec. 3, 2013) and Wayne Brady Christmas (Dec. 5, 2013) in the television star's first Fort Worth appearance. FWSO pays homage to crooner Frank Sinatra with a New Year's Eve tribute concert featuring Steve Lippia (Dec. 31, 2013), and celebrates the music from Star Trek, Star Wars, Close Encounters and The Day The Earth Stood Still in a Sci-Fi Spectacular with George Takei (Jan. 4, 2014). 

Here is the complete season:

FESTIVAL: FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

August 23-24 at 7:30 p.m., August 25 at 2:00 p.m.

Bass Performance Hall 

Friday, August 23, 2013 

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor 

Soloist, Cliburn Finalist 

RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1 

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 

Saturday, August 24, 2013 

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor 

Soloist, Cliburn Finalist 

RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2 

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5 

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

Soloist, Cliburn Finalist

RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6

AMERICAN AIRLINES SYMPHONIC SERIES

Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

Bass Performance Hall

September 13-15, 2013

STRAUSS & DENNEHY

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

Jessica Rivera, Soprano

LISSANT-COLLINTS Fuquoi in the Sugar Cane (South Africa)

DONNACHA DENNEHY That the Night Comes

R. STRAUSS Suite from Der Rosenkavalier

R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

October 4-6, 2013

THE "SCOTTISH" SYMPHONY

Mei-Ann Chen, Conductor

Benjamin Beilman, Violin

AN-LUN HUANG Saibei Dance (China)

DVORÁK Violin Concerto

MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3 "Scottish"

Oct. 25-27, 2013

BEETHOVEN & DEBUSSY

Rossen Milanov, Conductor

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral"

VLADIGEROV Improvisation and Toccata (Bulgaria)

DEBUSSY La Mer

November 15-17, 2013

BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2

Joshua Weilerstein, Conductor

Adam Golka, Piano

LIGETI Romanian Concerto (Hungary)

BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2

SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5

January 10-12, 2014

AN EVENING OF PROKOFIEV

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

Anne Akiko Meyers, Violin

DONNACHA DENNEHY Crane (Ireland)

PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 2

PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 7

January 31- February 2, 2014

TIME FOR THREE

Alejandro Posada, Conductor

Time for Three, Ensemble

SKALKOTTAS Selections from Greek Dances (Greece)

JENNIFER HIGDON Concerto 4-3

SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4

February 21-23, 2014

MENDELSSOHN'S ELIJAH

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

ARVO PÄRT Psalom (Estonia)

MENDELSSOHN Elijah

March 7-9, 2014

GERSHWIN'S PIANO CONCERTO IN F

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

Joyce Yang, Piano

ROSSINI Overture to La Gazza Ladra

GERSHWIN Piano Concerto in F

NIELSEN Symphony No. 2 (Denmark)

March 21-23, 2014

TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

Steven Osborne, Piano

PETER SCULTHORPE Earth Cry (Australia)

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3

WAGNER Orchestral Music from "Twilight of the Gods"

May 23-25, 2014

TWO TRUMPET CONCERTOS

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

Tine Thing Helseth, Trumpet

DONNACHA DENNEHY The Vandal

HAYDN Trumpet Concerto

ARUTIUNIAN Trumpet Concerto (Armenia)

BERLIOZ Symphonie Fantastique

STAR-TELEGRAM POPS SERIES

Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

Bass Performance Hall

September 6-8, 2013

RHAPSODY IN BLUE: AN EVENING OF GERSHWIN

Jeff Tyzik, Conductor

Doug LaBrecque, Vocals

Jon Nakamatsu, Piano

October 11-13, 2013

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

November 1-3, 2013

FROM BROADWAY TO SYMPHONY

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

Ashley Brown, Vocals

November 29 – December 1, 2013

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Andrés Franco, Conductor

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Chorus

February 7-9, 2014

CHRIS MANN

Andrés Franco, Conductor

Chris Mann, Vocals

April 4-6, 2014

RADIO DAYS: A SALUTE TO TROOPS

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

Five by Design, Ensemble

May 16-18, 2014

PIXAR IN CONCERT

Andrés Franco, Conductor

SUBSCRIBER SPECIALS

Bass Performance Hall

Times and prices vary. Available now to subscribers only; on sale to the general public in

August.

December 3, 2013

MESSIAH

David Thye, Conductor

Southwestern Seminary Master Chorale

December 5, 2013

WAYNE BRADY CHRISTMAS

Andrés Franco, Conductor

Wayne Brady, Vocals

December 31, 2013

NEW YEAR'S EVE: SIMPLY SINATRA

Steve Sigmund, Conductor

Steve Lippia, Vocals

January 4, 2014

SCI-FI SPECTACULAR

Jack Everly, Conductor

George Takei, Narrator

Kristen Plumley, Vocals

Mike Runyan, Piano

January 25, 2014

CAMINOS DEL INKA: THE HIDDEN MUSIC

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

Jessica Warren Acosta, Flute

Jesús Castro-Balbi, Cello

April 3, 2014

GALA: YO-YO MA

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Conductor

Yo-Yo Ma, Cello