2008-2009 News
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PORTLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES 2008-09 INAUGURAL SEASON OF MUSIC DIRECTOR ROBERT MOODY
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PORTLAND , Maine - In its first season with new music director Robert Moody , the Portland Symphony Orchestra announces its 2008/09 season designed to leave audiences buzzing from both the quality of the performances and the chemistry and electric energy between conductor, orchestra and audience. Season tickets for the Symphony’s 84th season go on sale Friday, February 29 at noon.
The PSO’s 12th music director, Robert Moody will conduct 11 subscription-series programs at Merrill Auditorium. Continuing the artistic tradition established during the Music Director search process, one guest conductor will join the Symphony on each series. The season offers the six-concert Tuesday Classical Series; the four-concert Sunday Classical Series (up from three concerts in 2007-08); and the four-concert PSO Pops! Series. Additionally, international super-star soprano Renée Fleming will make her Maine debut in an endowment benefit concert to be held on February 17, 2009.
The 2008-2009 season is sponsored by IDEXX Laboratories.
Robert Moody will also lead the 2008 Independence Pops concerts. Details and dates for these concerts, as well as Magic of Christmas, will be announced in the near future.
“I am eager to join the orchestra later this spring and am looking forward to an exciting debut season. We’ve assembled a season of stellar artists and programs to mark a new beginning and a new era for the PSO,” comments Moody.
The season opens with Robert Moody leading a Tuesday Classical concert on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 featuring Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, as well as the Carnival Overture by Dvorak and Liquid Interface by classical and “electronica” composer Mason Bates. Bates will join the orchestra at the concert and in the performance of his work.
Subsequent Tuesday Classical programs include symphonies by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn; and choral works by John Adams and Vaughn Williams (his glorious Dona Nobis Pacem with the Choral Art Society).
Guest artists on the Tuesday Classical series include conductor JoAnn Falletta, Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, as well as her concertmaster at Buffalo, Michael Ludwig as soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto; acclaimed cellist Zuill Bailey performing the stunning Elgar Cello Concerto; and pianist Orion Weiss in Gershwin’s Concerto in F. Audiences may remember Weiss from November 2007 when he performed Mozart as a last-minute replacement for Horacio Gutierrez, under the baton of Robert Moody.
The season finale on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 is a program of particular note, featuring Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, one of the most influential and controversial works of the 20th century. As a counterpiece and exploration of international influences, Robert Moody has selected Sabar, a concerto for Senegalese drummers and orchestra.
The Sunday Classical series continues with the tradition of presenting classical favorites, and also adds some earlier classical and Baroque period music. The series opens on Sunday, October 26, 2008 with Moody conducting a program of Rossini, Mahler (“Songs of a Wayfarer” with mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop) and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 “From the New World.” A highlight of an all-Mozart program under guest conductor Christian Knapp is the Clarinet Concerto in A with soloist William Hudgins, Principal Clarinet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Moody then returns to the podium and welcomes Ray Cornils on the Kotzschmar Organ in Poulenc’s Organ Concerto, preceded by the Mother Goose Suite by Ravel and Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony. The fourth and final Sunday Classical concert of the season highlights the music of the Baroque era, with works by Bach (Brandenburg Concerto No. 2), Haydn, Handel (Water Music) and Albinoni with trumpet soloist Ryan Anthony, Principal Trumpet of the Dallas Symphony.
The 2008-09 PSO Pops! series features tributes to various popular art forms. The series begins on Saturday, October 11, 2008 with a Tribute to John Williams, composer of some of the most successful and recognizable film music of all time. The PSO is joined by the Classical Mystery Tour, in the world’s most acclaimed tribute to The Beatles. Next is Radio Days, a musical time capsule of the 1940s, with guest ensemble Five By Design. The Pops season finishes up with Shall We Dance?, a singularly sensational concert that celebrates dance in all its myriad forms, with the Neos Dance Ensemble as special guests.
A major highlight of the PSO’s 2008-09 season and Moody’s debut season will be a special endowment benefit concert on February 17, 2009 with Renée Fleming, one of the world’s foremost and most sough-after performers. Fleming will be making her Maine debut performing a program of works from both the popular and classical repertoire, featuring Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, all under the baton of Robert Moody .
Prices for the 2008-09 Tuesday Classical Series range from $102 to $324; Sunday Classical series from $52 to $162; PSO Pops! Series from $68 to $200. Tickets to the Renée Fleming endowment benefit concert start at $50 and are currently available only to subscribers. For more information or to buy season tickets, please call 207-842-0800 or visit www.portlandsymphony.com .
The PSO’s 12th music director, Robert Moody will conduct 11 subscription-series programs at Merrill Auditorium. Continuing the artistic tradition established during the Music Director search process, one guest conductor will join the Symphony on each series. The season offers the six-concert Tuesday Classical Series; the four-concert Sunday Classical Series (up from three concerts in 2007-08); and the four-concert PSO Pops! Series. Additionally, international super-star soprano Renée Fleming will make her Maine debut in an endowment benefit concert to be held on February 17, 2009.
The 2008-2009 season is sponsored by IDEXX Laboratories.
Robert Moody will also lead the 2008 Independence Pops concerts. Details and dates for these concerts, as well as Magic of Christmas, will be announced in the near future.
“I am eager to join the orchestra later this spring and am looking forward to an exciting debut season. We’ve assembled a season of stellar artists and programs to mark a new beginning and a new era for the PSO,” comments Moody.
The season opens with Robert Moody leading a Tuesday Classical concert on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 featuring Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, as well as the Carnival Overture by Dvorak and Liquid Interface by classical and “electronica” composer Mason Bates. Bates will join the orchestra at the concert and in the performance of his work.
Subsequent Tuesday Classical programs include symphonies by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn; and choral works by John Adams and Vaughn Williams (his glorious Dona Nobis Pacem with the Choral Art Society).
Guest artists on the Tuesday Classical series include conductor JoAnn Falletta, Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, as well as her concertmaster at Buffalo, Michael Ludwig as soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto; acclaimed cellist Zuill Bailey performing the stunning Elgar Cello Concerto; and pianist Orion Weiss in Gershwin’s Concerto in F. Audiences may remember Weiss from November 2007 when he performed Mozart as a last-minute replacement for Horacio Gutierrez, under the baton of Robert Moody.
The season finale on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 is a program of particular note, featuring Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, one of the most influential and controversial works of the 20th century. As a counterpiece and exploration of international influences, Robert Moody has selected Sabar, a concerto for Senegalese drummers and orchestra.
The Sunday Classical series continues with the tradition of presenting classical favorites, and also adds some earlier classical and Baroque period music. The series opens on Sunday, October 26, 2008 with Moody conducting a program of Rossini, Mahler (“Songs of a Wayfarer” with mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop) and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 “From the New World.” A highlight of an all-Mozart program under guest conductor Christian Knapp is the Clarinet Concerto in A with soloist William Hudgins, Principal Clarinet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Moody then returns to the podium and welcomes Ray Cornils on the Kotzschmar Organ in Poulenc’s Organ Concerto, preceded by the Mother Goose Suite by Ravel and Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony. The fourth and final Sunday Classical concert of the season highlights the music of the Baroque era, with works by Bach (Brandenburg Concerto No. 2), Haydn, Handel (Water Music) and Albinoni with trumpet soloist Ryan Anthony, Principal Trumpet of the Dallas Symphony.
The 2008-09 PSO Pops! series features tributes to various popular art forms. The series begins on Saturday, October 11, 2008 with a Tribute to John Williams, composer of some of the most successful and recognizable film music of all time. The PSO is joined by the Classical Mystery Tour, in the world’s most acclaimed tribute to The Beatles. Next is Radio Days, a musical time capsule of the 1940s, with guest ensemble Five By Design. The Pops season finishes up with Shall We Dance?, a singularly sensational concert that celebrates dance in all its myriad forms, with the Neos Dance Ensemble as special guests.
A major highlight of the PSO’s 2008-09 season and Moody’s debut season will be a special endowment benefit concert on February 17, 2009 with Renée Fleming, one of the world’s foremost and most sough-after performers. Fleming will be making her Maine debut performing a program of works from both the popular and classical repertoire, featuring Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, all under the baton of Robert Moody .
Prices for the 2008-09 Tuesday Classical Series range from $102 to $324; Sunday Classical series from $52 to $162; PSO Pops! Series from $68 to $200. Tickets to the Renée Fleming endowment benefit concert start at $50 and are currently available only to subscribers. For more information or to buy season tickets, please call 207-842-0800 or visit www.portlandsymphony.com .
