February is the month in which most orchestras start their new subscription campaigns with their next-season announcements. I haven’t really paid much attention to what’s being programmed outside of my own orchestra, but I thought that it would be interesting to take a look at the seasons and see if any trends are emerging.<\/p>\n
Chicago Symphony<\/strong><\/p>\n The CSO season is conservative, to say the least. Loads of Beethoven – starting with the Missa Solemnis<\/em>, and continuing with lots of Mahler, Wagner, more Beethoven, Brahms, and lots of music written pre-1980. I can see the tactic – they’re carpet bombing the audience with loads of favorites, then slipping in some hard to digest nuggets like Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto<\/em>, Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto<\/em>, and Messiaen’s Chronochromie<\/em>. There are a few commissioned pieces and 21st century works, which is commendable: Brett Dean’s Ampitheatre<\/em>, Anna Clyne’s Double Concerto<\/em>, Christopher Rouse’s Trumpet Concerto<\/em>, and Mason Bates’ Liquid Interface<\/em>. Former PYP Music Director Mei Ann Chen also conducts one of the CSO’s Beyond the Score concerts focussing on the Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, <\/em>and also conducts a subscription concert. Esa Pekka Salonen guest conducts music of Wagner (Tristan<\/em>, Act 2). Music director Riccardo Muti\u00a0indulges\u00a0his usual fancy for Scriabin (did lots of that in Philly when I was living there). Overall, it’s a season that will delight many an octogenarian, with a few goodies thrown in there for the rest of us. See the entire lineup here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Seattle Symphony<\/strong><\/p>\n Under previous music director Gerard Schwartz, the SSO often did a good job of presenting underrepresented works as well as commissioning new works. With new music director Ludovic Morlot, the SSO seems to be continuing this trend. Hopefully their sales will be as adventurous as their programming. The are presenting the world premiere of John Luther Adams’ Becoming Ocean<\/em> in Seattle, and will then take it to Carnegie Hall for the 2013 Spring for Music series. Other commissions include works by Dai Fujikura, Alexandra Gardner, Ken Hesketh, Arlene Sierra, and a US premiere of a work by Pascal Zavaro. Interestingly, they’re starting a late-night contemporary music series with informal contemporary music performances in the Benaroya Hall lobby. Morlot is leading the Seattle Symphony premiere of Messiaen’s Turangalilia<\/em> Symphony, John Adams (the other John Adams) conducts his own Harmonielehre, and the violist wunderkind Maxim Rysanov appears as solist in Kancheli’s Styx<\/em>. The SSO is also using the Chicago Symphony’s Beyond the Score (I’m assuming they licensed the scripts and accompanying material from the CSO) to examine Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Elgar’s Enigma Variations<\/em>, and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. There’s lots to like on the SSO’s schedule next season, but there are so many different series and options that you’ve got to wonder if they’re competing with themselves a bit. You can’t fault them for trying to go after a less aged audience, however. See the complete press release here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nashville Symphony<\/strong><\/p>\n The NSO seems to have a lot going for it: a great hall, lots of money, and a dynamic new music director in Giancaro Guerrero. They kick off their season with a 21st century work – Richard Danielpour’s A Woman’s Life<\/em> (2006), for soprano and orchestra, setting poems of Maya Angelou. Works by Stephen Paulus (a string quartet concerto), Mason Bates (a commissioned violin concerto), Corigliano (his Red Violin<\/em> concerto), James MacMillan (his Third Piano Concerto), and Edgar Meyer (a commissioned double concerto for Meyer and Joshua Bell) round out a strong season of new and newish works. You can tell there’s money coming from somewhere, especially when you consider that they’re mounting Mahler’s Eighth Symphony on top of all this. Guerrero’s season looks a bit like Carlos Kalmar’s season would look, if we could field a larger orchestra and had a fund to commission new works. I give their season high marks – it’s adventurous and interesting, with a good balance between new and old. See the season lineup here<\/a>.<\/p>\n To be continued…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February is the month in which most orchestras start their new subscription campaigns with their next-season announcements. I haven’t really paid much attention to what’s being programmed outside of my own orchestra, but I thought that it would be interesting to take a look at the seasons and see if any trends are emerging. Chicago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1045,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programming-music","category-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1TC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":989,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/23\/a-look-back-pt-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":7292,"position":0},"title":"a look back, pt. 1","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I thought I'd start off next Monday by taking a retrospective at the 2007-2008 OSO season, both on stage and off. But for now, a list of the works we performed this season on the Classical Subscription and Inside the Score series. I'm always somewhat dumbfounded when I look through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4668,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/05\/18\/final-push\/","url_meta":{"origin":7292,"position":1},"title":"final push","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sitting at the computer with my afternoon latte beside me, and am reflecting upon the fact that this is the last week of the Oregon Symphony's 2009-2010 season.\u00a0 It truly has gone by in what seems like the blink of an eye.\u00a0 Last night we concluded our three concert\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/04\/03\/busy\/","url_meta":{"origin":7292,"position":2},"title":"busy!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a busy 10 days - and here's the list of music that's passed over my transom to prove it: Prokofiev - Romeo & Juliet, Suites 1 and 2 Berlioz - Queen Mab Scherzo from Romeo & Juliet Bernstein - Symphonic Dances from West Side Story Strauss - Don\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13712,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/08\/2014-2105-a-retrospective-part-two\/","url_meta":{"origin":7292,"position":3},"title":"2014-2105: a retrospective, part two","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"And now, for the big list - the stuff I played with the Oregon Symphony this past season*. Lots of variety, and some holes in repertoire that I really couldn't believe when I looked at the list - only one work by Brahms, for example? Hm... Barber - Adagio for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/noble-oso-pic-e1408736178252.jpg?fit=451%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3020,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/26\/pre-season-highlights\/","url_meta":{"origin":7292,"position":4},"title":"pre-season highlights","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As the beginning of the 2009-2010 Oregon Symphony season comes quickly upon us, it has become time to look at what some of my personal highlights might be.\u00a0 I say might, because sometimes the concerts that I most look forward to fall flat, and those which I think might be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sept08CarlosKalmar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Sept08CarlosKalmar.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4561,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/05\/10\/beethoven-festival-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":7292,"position":5},"title":"beethoven festival week!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Oregon Symphony's Beethoven Festival (rehearsals begin today) kicks off May 15th with the Lenore Overture No. 3, the Piano Concerto No. 2, and the Triple Concerto.\u00a0 Arnaldo Cohen is the amazing pianist who will be playing all of the concertos.\u00a0 He'll be joined in the Triple by OSO concertmaster\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}