Symphony’s coming season has something for everyone
Article published February 07, 2010
Symphony’s coming season has something for everyone
By SALLY VALLONGO
SPECIAL TO THE BLADE
Symphony’s coming season has something for everyone
By SALLY VALLONGO
SPECIAL TO THE BLADE
The Toledo Symphony doesn’t want to be all things to all Toledoans — except when it comes to great music from the ages, performed live.
Then, as principal conductor Stefan Sanderling says, "We are the orchestra for Toledo. We play everything from Baroque to contemporary music."
Now, midway through its 66th consecutive season, the TSO began generating buzz for Season No. 67 in the Peristyle on Friday and Saturday nights during its Classics V concerts, when patrons received a sneak peek of what’s ahead for 2010-2011.
Here’s a sample of what’s in store for next season:
Music by composers from John Adams to Led Zeppelin will fill a busy calendar that includes the marquee Classics and the ever-popular KeyBank Pops series to more focused programming including Mozart & More and The Blade Chamber Concerts.
There’s a revival for next season: the popular Sunday afternoon Family Series in the Peristyle, presented in conjunction with other area cultural groups. Headlining the four concerts will be Halloween Spooktacular on Oct. 31.
Bruckner will be back on March 6, 2011 — this time Symphony No. 4 — and Handel’s Messiah will return in all its holiday glory on Dec. 4 and 5.
"I’m always after diversity," said Sanderling, who worked with TSO president Bob Bell, artistic administrator Merwin Siu, and other staffers to create what looks like one of the most varied and innovative seasons in a long time.
w Classics guest performers will include conducting hotshot Mei-Ann Chen, off-the-charts violin virtuoso-composer Mark O’Connor, cellist Alban Gerhardt, pianist Halida Dinova, and German pianist Markus Groh.
w For pops audiences, Ohio singing sensation Jim Brickman will return, and Michael Krajewski will lead a program of songs for dancing. Music from the group Led Zeppelin will fill one pops program; another will feature not one, not two, but three "Phantoms" sharing the stage.
"The biggest challenge for an orchestra with only nine Classics concerts is not what you play, it’s what you don’t play," noted Sanderling. "You want to show the audiences the entire world of music."
The season opens with a bold pairing of Aaron Copland’s tone poem "Appalachian Spring" — the first version for 13 instruments, "so pure and tender and fantastic," says Sanderling — and the over-the-top excitement of Igor Stravinsky’s huge original score for The Firebird, plus Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to Candide.
Also coming on the Classics series will be thematic concerts including Ravel and the Sea Jan. 14 and 15; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Feb. 4 and 5, and Saint-Saen’s Organ Concert on Feb. 25 and 26.
And the golden apple at the end of that season will be the symphony’s debut in Carnegie Hall, invitational performances on April 29 and 30, 2011, sponsored by the Spring for Music project introducing top American orchestras to New York audiences and critics.
A special program set for Jan. 7, 2011, in the Peristyle will help create momentum for this important concert. On hand for that kick-off concert will be jazz composer/pianist Stanley Cowell and narrator Mayor Mike Bell.
Sanderling and the symphony hope that audiences will find the many programs "exciting, mind-changing, and emotionally charged.
"That’s the challenge. It’s all about balance."
For more information on the Toledo Symphony’s coming season, call 419-246-8000 or toledosymphony.com.
Contact Sally Vallongo at: svallongo@theblade.com.