The Grammy Award-winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, in its second season under the direction of music director Nathalie Stutzmann, has announced its plans for its 2023-24 season.
The season offers one of the orchestra’s most diverse to date, with artists of great range and gravitas side by side with fresh voices and tremendous variety. For instance, the season will include work by Dvořák, Bruckner, Strauss, Brahms, Verdi and Tchaikovsky.
“The artistic partnership between Nathalie Stutzmann and the musicians of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus is nothing short of transformative,” Jennifer Barlament, executive director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra said. “Around the world and here in Atlanta, critics note Stutzmann’s fresh, searching, intriguing interpretations that allow listeners to hear long-beloved works as though they were world premieres.”
The season opens on Oct. 5, with the debut of French harpist Xavier de Maistre, one of the most prominent harpists in the world, performing a concerto from composer Alexander Mosolov and featuring Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.
The weekend of Jan. 18, the ASO will celebrate the 200th birthday of Austrian composer Anton Bruckner with a program entitled, “Architect of the Spirit: Bruckner at 200,” featuring the composer’s unfinished Symphony No. 9, with the often-used Te Deum to close the performance, featuring the ASO Chorus.
The following weekend, January 25 and 27, the Bruckner celebration continues, with a performance of his Symphony No. 7, paired with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, played by Sunwook Kim, making his ASO debut.
In February, the ASO honors Black History Month with an evening curated by Grammy Award-nominated composer and Atlanta native Carlos Simon, who is known for infusing his work with a powerful social conscience. The Orchestra, along with vocalists Kearstin Piper Brown, soprano and Brian K. Majors, baritone, will be joined by the outstanding glee clubs of HBCU’s Morehouse College and Spelman College, as well as poet and spoken-word performer Marc Bamuthi Joseph.
Maestro Stutzmann and soprano Renée Fleming will present an all-Strauss performance in April of 2024, which will consist of Fleming’s signature Four Last Songs and selections from Der Rosenkavalier and Capriccio.
Also in April, Maria João Pires, widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of our time, will make her Atlanta debut with her interpretation of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4.
In the Fall of 2023, Russian conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya leads Samaagam, a concerto for orchestra and sarod by master of the sarod himself, Amjad Ali Khan.
In November of 2023, former ASO principal bassoonist Andrew Brady returns with guest conductor Anthony Parnther conducting famous movie soundtrack composer John Williams’s bassoon concerto, The Five Sacred Trees. The program includes a new work from composer Chanda Dancy, and Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3.
There will also be several world premieres. For a full schedule, visit www.aso.org.
Photo: Renee Fleming will be featured soloist in the ASO’s April 2024 all-Strauss program. Photo by Andrew Eccles
