Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series
It gives us great pleasure to announce the ASO’s 2008-2009 Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks series and to invite you to be a part of it! You, our valued audience, are the reason we rehearse, perform, and share the world’s most beautiful music. Maestro David Itkin has programmed six fabulous concerts, including an all-Mozart program, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Boléro, and Beethoven’s glorious Symphony No. 9. And as always, dazzling performers will join us to bring these programs to you. We look forward to sharing the joy of music!
OPENING NIGHT MAGIC with FIREBIRD
Saturday, September 20, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 21, 2008, 3:00 pm
David Itkin, conductor
Zuill Bailey, cello
Ravel: Boléro
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919)
Dvořák: Cello Concerto
Maestro David Itkin and the orchestra guarantee a magical season opening with three masterpieces you’ll love: the intoxicating Bolero, Stravinsky’s glittering Firebird ballet suite, and Dvořák’s rich and expansive cello concerto, featuaring Zuill Bailey, back by popular demand. Unforgettable!
“Zuill Bailey, is enormously gifted and splendid.” Toronto Globe and Mail
VIOLIN PYROTECHNICS!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
David Itkin, conductor
Franco Mezzena, violin
Barber: Second Essay for Orchestra
Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1
Schumann: Symphony No. 2
Get ready for a ride on the wild side with Paganini’s violin concerto—all astounding runs and leaps—dazzlingly performed by Franco Mezzena. Schumann’s romantic Symphony No. 2 is sure to enchant you with its poetry and lyricism.
“...Franco Mezzena: a tremendous virtuoso...” Gramophone (London)
MOZART TO THE MAX
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Geoffrey Robson, conductor
Kelly Johnson, clarinet
Mozart : Overture to Don Giovanni
Mozart : Clarinet Concerto
Mozart: Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter”
A feast for all lovers of great music, starring our own principalclarinetist Kelly Johnson in Mozart’s ravishing clarinet concerto; westart with an overture that foretells the fate of the notorious rakeDon Giovanni, and end with the jewel in Amadeus’s symphonic crown, theglorious “Jupiter” Symphony.
BRAHMS FOR TWO
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
David Itkin, conductor
Giora Schmidt, violin
Julie Albers, cello
Brahms: Concerto for Violin and Cello (“Double Concerto”)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Performances of great power and haunting beauty await you at this concert. In Brahms’s Double Concerto two virtuoso soloists are in the limelight for music that’s both dramatic and lyrical. Music as politics concludes the performance: Shostakovich’s shattering masterpiece was a defiant gesture against Stalin’s totalitarian regime.
“[Julie Albers’] playing is mature in every sense of the word, from the vibrant sound she produces at all dynamic levels and technical ease with which she traverses treacherous lines to the interpretive poise that enables her to seize the ear.” The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH)
“Schmidt held the audience rapt.” Newsday
Sponsored by Metal Recycling
BEETHOVEN’S “ODE TO JOY”
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
David Itkin, conductor
Marie Plette, soprano
Juline Giolmore, mezzo-soprano
Mark Thomsen, tenor
Stephen Anthony Ray,bass
The Choruses from the University of Central Arkansas, Harding University, Hendrix College, Lyon College and Henderson State University
Milhaud: La création du monde
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, “Choral”
The lively inspiration of New York’s jazz clubs and African legendsenergize Milhaud’s exotic ballet score about the creation of the world.There’s no greater joy than Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” ringing out inexultation, celebrating a world where all mankind is in the embrace oflove and friendship.
FANTASTIC SYMPHONY!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
David Itkin, conductor
Orchestra Showcase
Copland: Appalachian Spring
R. Strauss: Don Juan
Berlioz : Symphonie Fantastique
A showcase for our fabulous musicians: Copland’s American classic—immediate and tender—features the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts”; Strauss’s glorious tone poem expresses longing, love, and loss; and a true “classical hit,” the Fantastic Symphony, filled with brilliant orchestral effect and guaranteed to knock your socks off!
Video Clip | Program Notes | Order Tickets
Sponsored by 2008-2009 Maestro's Circle
American Airlines Concert Conversations
Whether you are a long-time music aficionado or a budding music lover, this program is for you. Maestro Itkin leads dynamic and insightful Concert Conversations lecture series 45 minutes prior to each Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series performance. The format is casual and many times our guest artists will participate for a moment of demonstration. The series takes place downstairs at Robinson Center Music Hall in rooms 101-102 and is always free to the public.
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