Ever looking forward, the artistic leadership of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will present audiences with a full house of household-name soloists, beloved orchestral pieces and modern marvels in its 2011-2012 season.
Music Director Robert Spano will open next season with orchestral thunderclaps from two masters: Beethoven’s immortal Ninth Symphony and excerpts from Wagner’s spectacular Ring cycle, with the Chorus and leading soprano Christine Brewer.
The next week offers Siderius, from frequent Spano collaborator Osvaldo Golijov (Ainadamar, St. Mark Passion), in a concert that also features Joshua Bell in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and the Brahms Fourth Symphony.
Not to be missed will be back-to-back concerts in January 2012 with Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles. He will lead kindred titans: the Mahler “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2 and the Beethoven’s Third, the “Eroica.”
The extraordinary Yo-Yo Ma will perform the Dvorak Cello Concerto at the landmark 20th anniversary of the institution’s annual remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Atlanta Symphony Hall in January. March will be distinguished by a world premiere by Adam Schoenberg, the newest member of Mr. Spano’s Atlanta School of Composers. And in May, Atlanta resident and former Orchestra composer-in-residence Alvin Singleton will unveil a world premiere alongside a world-premiere piano concerto by renowned jazz artist ?Marcus Roberts.
The Orchestra’s signature Theater of a Concert will heighten the drama of The Flowering Tree, a recent work by America’s most popular modern composer, John Adams (his Dr. Atomic and El Niño were previous Theater of a Concert performances) and Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion.
Artists who will return to the Orchestra include violinists Gil Shaham and Leila Josefowicz, and pianists André Watts, Horacio Gutiérrez and Dejan Lazic. The Orchestra also will welcome rising stars making their Atlanta debuts such as Venezuelan-American pianist Gabriela Montero, a brilliant improviser, and the Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, by all accounts a dazzling technician. German cellist Johannes Moser is another virtuosic talent well worth a look.
Three of the Orchestra’s redoubtable principals step out as well. New Concertmaster David Coucheron, who has made an indelible mark this season, will perform the Brahms Double Concerto with Principal Cello Christopher Rex. Mr. Coucheron ?also takes on a personal favorite, the Sibelius Violin Concerto, and Christina Smith performs Mozart’s eloquent Flute Concerto.
The Orchestra’s SuperPOPS! series will be in good hands with engaging Principal Pops Conductor Michael Krajewski. A few highlights: the popular a cappella retro-rockers Rockapella, composer-performer Marvin Hamlisch and trumpeter Chris Botti.
Complete information on the 2011-12 season, including the Family and Holiday series and special presentations is available online at www.atlantasymphony.org. Or call 404.733.4800. Season brochures are available in the lobby.
And this month …
March has a special charm all its own. Michael Krajewski welcomes the preeminent Irish traditionalists, the Chieftains, March 11-12. The formidable American pianists Jonathan Biss and Peter Serkin perform Mozart and Bartók March 17-20 and March 31-April 1, respectively, and the splendid Dawn Upshaw gives voice to Osvaldo Golijov’s setting of Schubert songs, with Music Director Robert Spano on the podium, March 24 and 26.
