At Davies Hall this morning, MTT & Executive Directory Brent Assink announced the SF Symphony's 2010-11 season. MTT began by praising the "sophistication & delicacy" of the orchestra's playing & said he would like to feature more of the players center stage as he did in the Stravinsky Octet performance last month.
I was glad to see that Rufus Wainwright has been rescheduled to present his Five Shakespeare Sonnets in November. Composer John Adams will be featured in December, with performances of Harmonielehre & a concert version of El Niño, which he will conduct. Mr. Adams was on hand & told us he how excited he is to have Michelle DeYoung in El Niño. He finds her ideal to sing his music. Mr. Adams also admitted that he showed up for the very 1st symphony rehearsal of Harmonielehre with an incomplete score, his copyist having fallen asleep on the job the previous night.
The season contains some big choral performances, including Carmina Burana, the Mozart Requiem, Ragnar Bohlin leading Bach's B Minor Mass, & MTT leading Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. MTT revealed that he 1st heard the Missa Solmenis when he played 2nd oboe under Lukas Foss. In May 2011 the orchestra will tour Europe, culminating in performances of Mahler Symphonies 2, 6, & 9 in anniversary concerts in Vienna. MTT wryly observed that this will also be the 137th anniversary of Mahler's bar mitzvah.
We also got a preview of an up-coming Keeping Score program, featuring MTT giving us a tour of Mahler's fancy house on the Wörthersee & a performance of the Symphony #1.
At the press announcement, I was pleased to run into The Opera Tattler & a bit abashed to be greeted by Josh Kosman. I was also delighted to meet Oboeinsight whose blog & whose playing I have been enjoying for some time now. She shared some down-in-the-trenches stories of hazardous things that have fallen into orchestra pits, including sliding chorus members, ballet dancers, frozen grapes & fish.
More details of the season announcement are available in this press release & on the Symphony's Web site.
12 comments:
I can't believe I'm missing the big John Adams fest. Feldman and Cowell look very interesting.
How about Carmina Burana on my birthday, huh?
I look forward to another season of Keeping Score on PBS! I thought all the previous episodes have been very well done. MTT has such a down-to-earth personality, and he makes this program so accessible - even for non-musicians.
So lovely to see you, as always.
The Carmina Burana Laser Light Show Appreciation Society must go celebrate the birth of a particular pernicious person's birth at SFS this year.
IM: Yes, the Cowell/Mozart/Adams program has the potential to be a bit hit. They implied that the Feldman "Rothko Chapel" might be a visually enhanced performance, utilizing projections of the painter's works.
And I am sure that the Carmina Burana Laser Light Show Appreciation Society would love to organize an outing to that concert in honor of your birthday.
The eclectic Heras-Casado program with Mendelssohn, Lizst, Kurtag & Shostakovich is one that interests me. Surprisingly, this is the 1st time the Symphony has presented Kurtag.
Unfortunately the Symphony did not have anything to add about their Avner Dorman commission. One suspects they may not know much about it themselves yet.
y2k: Yes, MTT does seem to be very popular with audiences when speaking. Have you heard his MTT Files on the radio? It's in a similarly friendly vein.
Opera Tattler: I am glad we are in agreement on the CB concert. Too bad the Symphony has no plans to use projections for that program as well. & thank you for introducing me to Oboeinsight.
It was wonderful meeting you! I really love putting faces to blogs. :-)
So many concerts ... difficult for my small oboe brain to wrap around it all. (Or, as I typed first, "warp around" ... hmmm ....)
I'm TOTALLY embarrassed because I am SO bad with names ... yours went in one ear and out the other and I still think of you as "Axel". Ack! You wanna help me out here? I even hate to admit this, but I really want to know how to greet you when next we meet. You could always drop me a line if you're willing: pattyoboe [at] me [dot] com
(Now I'll run and hide out of shame.)
Unfortunately I had to miss this because of "other responisibilities," but it seems like a good time was had by all. I'd very much like to be included in the Belgian's birthday bash. I see many things to look forward to in the season- the Missa Solemnis, the return of "El Nino" and lots of Yuja Wang for starters.
It is a pretty meaty season. Besides all those Mahler Symphonies, there are 3 Beethoven Symphonies.
Oboeinsight: Don't worry, you are not the only one to think of me as "Axel". I think at this point Axel gets out to more things than me anyway.
Mr. Marcher:
Gosh, it sounds like a party already. Bibit ille, bibit illa, bibit servis cum ancilla...
and that's latin for???
OK, so the Web site I grabbed that from probably misspelled "slave", but if you don't recognize that text, I'm not so sure you should be invited to a Carmina Burana birthday celebration :)
So I can't tell if you are happy about Carmina Burana or not. 'Scuse my idiocy! So in all seriousness ... is it a good thing for you or a not-so-good thing?
I for one am quite happy that the Symphony is presenting Carmina Burana on a date that coincides with the birthday of certain Belgian blogger. This can be nothing other than a good thing.
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