Virginia Symphony Orchestra announces 2016-2017 Classics season
January 26, 2016
As music director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta said she strives to find just the right balance of beloved and undiscovered pieces.
The 2016-2017 Classics season, announced Friday, is no exception.
From a performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony to the world premiere of a composition, “I think it’s a very exciting mix of old favorites and some new discoveries,” said Falletta, currently in her 25th year as director.
Other highlights include a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons featuring the symphony’s own musicians as soloists and a special collaboration with the Chrysler Museum of Art, according to marketing director Monica Meyer.
“Our ’16-’17 season I think has something for everyone,” Meyer said.
The season opens in September with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, one of piano’s most difficult concertos, performed by guest soloist Conrad Tao, a 21-year-old virtuoso.
October’s “Latin Rhythms” will blend Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture” with three less-recognized names: Ponce’s Guitar Concerto, Moncayo’s “Huapango” and Revueltas’ “Night of the Mayas.”
“That’s our responsibility, in a way, is to kind of open the door to some new ideas, new pieces,” Falletta said.
The next concert returns to the familiar, with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, conducted by Danny Matsukawa. Currently principal bassoon of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Matsukawa is a former Virginia Symphony musician.
Falletta conducts Handel’s beloved “Messiah” in December, and resident conductor Benjamin Rous leads Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in January, which highlights seven of the orchestra’s own musicians as soloists.
Moving from classic to contemporary, February’s “A Night at the Movies” treats audiences to film score selections from “Schindler’s List” and Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” among others. Finnish violinist Elina Vähälä appears as soloist.
In March, the “Pictures at a French Exhibition” concert marks a collaboration with the Chrysler Museum. Works by Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Roussel will provide an auditory pairing to the Chrysler’s exhibit of French impressionist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
The next concert marks the world premiere of “Poems of Life,” composed by Kenneth Fuchs, who Falletta has known since the two studied at Juilliard. Based on poems by Judith Wolf, who Falletta also knows, the piece was commissioned for the orchestra’s principal cellist Michael Daniels and his brother, countertenor David Daniels. The concert again juxtaposes new and familiar, rounded out by Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.
The season concludes in April with the popular Requiem by Verdi.
Under the direction of Falletta, an internationally celebrated conductor, the Virginia Symphony is currently ranked in the top ten percent of professional orchestras nationwide. The upcoming season testifies to a continued quality of musicianship.
“There’s a lot of difficult and spectacular music on the program,” Falletta said.
“And they always do it well,” she said, of the musicians.
Beginning Sept. 23, the season runs until April 9, 2017 at venues in Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
Of Williamsburg audiences, “We are always honored to play for them, and to play at the highest level possible,” Falletta said.
Season ticket packages are available, ranging from $176 to $765. Individual concert tickets go on sale in the summer. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 757-892-6366 or visit virginiasymphony.org.
Bridges can be reached at 757-275-4934.
