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
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