2016-17 Classical Season Brochure

2016-17 CLASSICAL SEASON

“GERSHWIN AND HIS CHILDREN” 3 WORLD PREMIERES 14 DSO PREMIERES 15 DSO SOLOISTS WINTER MOZART FESTIVAL YOUR DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. WELCOME TO OUR 2016-17 SEASON!

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CONTENTS SEASON OVERVIEW 4 CLASSICAL LINEUP 6 LIVE WEBCASTS 34

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SEASON OVERVIEW BY LE0NARD SLATKIN Join the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for what will be one of the most exciting seasons in recent memory!

In addition to our annual winter music festival, this time focused on Mozart, we will feature a theme that runs throughout the season.

Gershwin and His Children: The Influence of Popular Culture on Classical Music will be a survey of music demonstrating how our own culture has influenced composers around the world. In addition to the music of Gershwin, we will perform more than 25 works that fit this theme, both old and new.

American culture plays a prominent role in the season, and the programs include 17 works by 13 American composers, including legends Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, as well as those active in today’s music scene, such as Wynton Marsalis, John Corigliano and Michel Camilo.

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Over the three-week Mozart Festival, the orchestra will perform the composer’s last six symphonies. But the real treat lies in the concertos. Each of Mozart’s works for solo winds and orchestra will be played, as well as works for multiple soloists. All of these compositions will be performed by members of the DSO! 15 of our own musicians will take the stage front and center for what promises to be a true festival of musical delights.

I hope you will join me for this very special season.

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Leonard Slaktin Music Director Neeme J채rvi Music Director Emeritus Michelle Merrill Assistant Conductor Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador

Presented by PVS Chemicals, Inc.

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Leonard Slatkin

SEPTEMBER 29 & 30, 2016

HILARY HAHN PLAYS BEETHOVEN Leonard Slatkin conductor Hilary Hahn violin BERNSTEIN Overture to Candide GERSHWIN Lullaby FERRAN CRUIXENT Big Data (world premiere) BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto Leonard Slatkin kicks off his 9th season as DSO Music Director with violinist extraordinaire Hilary Hahn, plus Bernstein and Gershwin classics and an exciting world premiere by innovative young Spanish classical, soundtrack, and video game composer Ferran Cruixent.

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2016

DSO PRESENTS: LANG LANG! Leonard Slatkin conductor Lang Lang piano NELSON Savannah River Holiday GOULD Pavanne BARBER Adagio for Strings COPLAND Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 A legend by the age of 20. A sensation at the Beijing Olympics.

“Technical fireworks,” raves the San Francisco Examiner, “interpretive passion.” Experience the breathtaking virtuosity of Lang Lang in concert with Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony, performing Beethoven’s poetic Piano Concerto No. 4.

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Pianist Garrick Ohlsson returns to Detroit with the music of two American greats — Copland’s rarely heard Piano Concerto and Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue. Leonard Slatkin continues in the jazz tradition with French composer Darius Milhaud’s Harleminspired ballet, and concludes with a Roman celebration in Respighi’s ever triumphant Pines of Rome.

OCTOBER 7 - 9, 2016

RHAPSODY IN BLUE Leonard Slatkin conductor Garrick Ohlsson piano CHRISTOPHER ROUSE Bump (DSO premiere) COPLAND Piano Concerto GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue MILHAUD La création du monde RESPIGHI The Pines of Rome

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DSO Music Director Emeritus Neeme Järvi

OCTOBER 20 - 22, 2016

ROMANCE OF RACHMANINOFF Neeme Järvi conductor Zuill Bailey cello RACHMANINOFF/LEYTUSH Russian Song (DSO premiere) MICHAEL DAUGHERTY Cello Concerto (DSO premiere) RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 1 Neeme is back! Music Director Emeritus Neeme Järvi returns to the Motor City, celebrating the music of great Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Dashing cello sensation Zuill Bailey performs the Detroit premiere of Michigan-based composer Michael Daugherty’s Tales of Hemingway, evoking the turbulent life, adventures, and unique literary style of the classic American author.

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Hannu Lintu

OCTOBER 29 & 30, 2016

SIBELIUS 2 Hannu Lintu conductor Elina Vähälä violin STRAVINSKY Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss JAAKO KUUSISTO Violin Concerto (DSO premiere) SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2 Guest maestro Hannu Lintu conducts the Divertimento from Stravinsky’s one-act ballet, The Fairy’s Kiss — the composer’s balletic homage to Tchaikovsky — and Sibelius’ most treasured Second Symphony. Dynamic Finnish violinist Elina Vähälä makes an exciting return to Detroit following her captivating 2014 debut (Corigliano’s “The Red Violin” Concerto).

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Kelley O’Connor

NOVEMBER 11 & 12, 2016

BEETHOVEN 4 & MAHLER’S “DAS LIED”

Russell Thomas

Louis Langrée conductor Kelley O’Connor mezzo soprano Russell Thomas tenor BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4 MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde Life, death, joy, sorrow...Gustav Mahler’s incomparable Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth) leads the audience through an epic journey of earthly beauty, hailed by Leonard Bernstein as the Austrian composer’s “greatest symphony.” French conductor Louis Langrée and the DSO are joined by returning favorite mezzo soprano Kelley O’Connor and tenor Russell Thomas.

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NOVEMBER 17 - 19, 2016

TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIRST CONCERTO Yu Long conductor Kirill Gerstein piano TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 (1879 Version) BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra

Winner of the prestigious Rubinstein and Gilmore Artist awards, internationally acclaimed pianist Kirill Gerstein returns in a rarely performed early version of Tchaikovsky’s beloved first Piano Concerto, joined by debuting conductor Yu Long, Music Director of the China Philharmonic and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra.

Yu Long

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DECEMBER 2 - 4, 2016

SEVEN DEADLY SINS Leonard Slatkin conductor Storm Large vocalist WALTON Suite from Façade WEILL The Seven Deadly Sins WALTON Symphony No. 1 Called “sensational” by The New York Times in her 2013 Carnegie Hall debut with the DSO, larger-than-life personality and vocalist Storm Large reprises her starring role as “Anna” (and her multiple personalities!) in Kurt Weill’s thrilling, satirical Seven Deadly Sins. Leonard Slatkin leads this theatrical masterpiece, framed by acclaimed works of avant-garde English composer William Walton.

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Legendary American pianist Emanuel Ax joins Leonard Slatkin and the DSO in a stunning program of Beethoven and Elgar!

DECEMBER 9 & 11, 2016

EMANUEL AX PLAYS BEETHOVEN Leonard Slatkin conductor Emanuel Ax piano BEETHOVEN Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2 ELGAR Symphony No. 1 15

JANUARY 14, 2017

VIRTUOSIC CHO-LIANG LIN Leonard Slatkin conductor Cho-Liang Lin violin STRAVINSKY Rag Time (DSO premiere) LALO SCHIFRIN Tangos Concertantes (DSO premiere) MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 5 With a career spanning more than 30 years performing around the globe, renowned violinist Cho-Liang Lin brings the sounds of South America to Detroit in Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin’s seductive Tangos Concertantes. Music Director Leonard Slatkin conducts Stravinsky’s Ragtime ballet — originally commissioned by New York City Ballet’s legendary George Balanchine — and Mendelssohn’s Fifth and final “Reformation” Symphony.

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2017 MOZART FESTIVAL Experience the magnificence of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in our three-week Winter Music Festival dedicated to the imagination, virtuosity, and influence of classical music’s most prolific composer!

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Alexander Kinmonth

Scott Strong

Yoonshin Song

Eric Nowlin

JANUARY 19 & 20, 2017

MOZART CONCERTANTE Leonard Slatkin conductor Alexander Kinmonth oboe Scott Strong horn Yoonshin Song violin Eric Nowlin viola MOZART MOZART MOZART MOZART 18

Overture to The Marriage of Figaro Oboe Concerto Horn Concerto No. 1 Sinfonia Concertante

David Buck

Karl Pituch

JANUARY 21 & 22, 2017

MOZART SYMPHONY NO. 39 Leonard Slatkin conductor David Buck flute Karl Pituch horn MOZART MOZART MOZART MOZART MOZART

Overture to CosĂŹ fan tutte Flute Concerto Horn Concerto No. 2 Overture to Don Giovanni Symphony No. 39

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JANUARY 27, 2017

MOZART CLARINET CONCERTO Leonard Slatkin conductor Kimberly Kaloyanides Kennedy violin Hai-Xin Wu violin Johanna Yarbrough horn Ralph Skiano clarinet MOZART MOZART MOZART MOZART

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Overture to La Clemenza del Tito Concertone (DSO premiere) Horn Concerto No. 3 Clarinet Concerto

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Kimberly Kaloyanides Kennedy

Hai-Xin Wu

Johanna Yarbrough

Ralph Skiano

Robert Williams

David Everson

JANUARY 28 & 29, 2017

MOZART SYMPHONY NO. 40 Leonard Slatkin conductor Robert Williams bassoon David Everson horn MOZART MOZART MOZART MOZART

Overture to The Magic Flute Bassoon Concerto Horn Concerto No. 4 Symphony No. 40

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FEBRUARY 2 & 3, 2017

MOZART’S “NACHTMUSIK” Leonard Slatkin conductor MOZART MOZART MOZART MOZART

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Eine kleine Nachtmusik Symphony No. 35, “Haffner” Andante for Flute and Strings Symphony No. 36, “Linz”

FEBRUARY 3 & 4, 2017

MOZART’S “JUPITER” SYMPHONY Leonard Slatkin conductor Sharon Sparrow flute Patricia Masri-Fletcher harp

Sharon Sparrow

MOZART Symphony No. 38, “Prague” MOZART Flute and Harp Concerto MOZART Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter”

Patricia Masri-Fletcher

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Sara Davis Buechner

FEBRUARY 17 & 18, 2017

GERSHWIN RARITIES Michelle Merrill conductor Sara Davis Buechner piano SHOSTAKOVICH Ballet Suite No. 1 GERSHWIN I Got Rhythm Variations GERSHWIN Second Rhapsody SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 1 With an active repertoire of more than 100 piano concertos, international pianist and educator Sara Davis Buechner joins DSO Assistant Conductor Michelle Merrill in a dance-inspired program of Shostakovich and Gershwin!

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Damon Gupton

MARCH 3 & 4, 2017

38TH ANNUAL CLASSICAL ROOTS Damon Gupton conductor Christine Lamprea cello For 38 years, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Classical Roots concert has celebrated African-American contributions to classical music. Our 2017 program showcases a world premiere by jazz trumpet legend Terence Blanchard, Detroit-native conductor Damon Gupton, and a debut cello concerto by Jeffrey Mumford, performed by 2013 Sphinx Competition winner Christine Lamprea!

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Andrey Boreyko

MARCH 24 & 25, 2017

ROMEO & JULIET, PLUS BRANFORD MARSALIS Andrey Boreyko conductor Branford Marsalis saxophone GABRIEL PROKOFIEV Saxophone Concerto (DSO premiere) PROKOFIEV Suite from Romeo and Juliet An incredible musical legacy inspires a new generation! Dynamic Russian conductor Andrey Boreyko leads Sergei Prokofiev’s timeless suite from Romeo and Juliet, plus the spectacular premiere of composer/DJ Gabriel Prokofiev’s Saxophone Concerto performed by the great Branford Marsalis.

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APRIL 6 - 9, 2017

GUITAR GENIUS SHARON ISBIN & MAHLER’S TENTH! Leonard Slatkin conductor Sharon Isbin guitar CHRIS BRUBECK Affinity: Guitar Concerto (DSO premiere) MAHLER Symphony No. 10 (Cooke version) Hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time,” multi Grammy Award-winner Sharon Isbin joins the DSO in jazz phenom Chris Brubeck’s recently debuted Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra. In a rare presentation, Leonard Slatkin leads Gustav Mahler’s poignant unfinished Tenth Symphony, masterfully reconstructed for the composer’s centenary in 1960 by famed British musicologist Deryck Cooke.

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APRIL 21 & 22, 2017

SYMPHONIC JAZZ Leonard Slatkin conductor Michel Camilo piano BACH Orchestral Transcriptions SHOSTAKOVICH Jazz Suite No. 1 (DSO premiere) MICHEL CAMILO Concerto for Jazz Trio & Orchestra (world premiere) Leonard Slatkin leads magnificent orchestral transcriptions

by J.S. Bach, followed by two jazz inspired DSO firsts! Hear the orchestra’s premiere performance of Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite No. 1, and a the debut of an all-new jazz trio concerto by Grammy Award winning composer and pianist Michel Camilo.

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May 6 & 7, 2017

“THE DEFIANT REQUIEM” Murry Sidlin conductor Jennifer Check soprano Ann McMahon Quintero mezzo soprano Issachah Savage tenor Nathan Stark bass VERDI Requiem Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín (DSO premiere) Conceived and created by Murry Sidlin, “The Defiant Requiem” tells the story of courageous Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp during World War II who performed the famous Verdi Requiem Mass. This powerful, inspirational multimedia performance combines the magnificent music of Verdi with testimony from survivors of the original chorus and footage from propaganda films.

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Carlos Miguel Prieto

MAY 13, 2017

SEDUCTIVE SHOWPIECES Carlos Miguel Prieto conductor Alexandra Soumm violin MÁRQUEZ Danzón No. 2 BERNSTEIN Serenade (after Plato’s “Symposium”) de FALLA The Three-Cornered Hat GIMENEZ Intermezzo from La Boda de Luis Alonzo Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto (Music Director of the Louisiana Philharmonic and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico) makes his exciting DSO debut, and French violinist Alexandra Soumm returns in a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s lyrical, elegant Serenade.

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MAY 18 - 21, 2017

BEETHOVEN’S NINTH Leonard Slatkin conductor Hila Plitmann soprano Rachelle Durkin soprano Abigail Nims mezzo soprano Sean Panikkar tenor Peixin Chen bass JOHN CORIGLIANO Mr. Tambourine Man (DSO premiere) BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9, “Choral” From its powerful opening passage to the triumphant “Ode to Joy” with full choir, experience Beethoven’s iconic Ninth Symphony with Leonard Slatkin and the DSO. The program also presents the first DSO performances of Grammy Award winning American composer John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man, setting original music to seven poems by Bob Dylan and featuring the return of soprano Hila Plitmann (star of David Del Tredici’s Final Alice, 2012)

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Cristian Mﾄツelaru

MAY 26 - 28, 2017

RACHMANINOFF SYMPHONY NO. 2 Cristian Mﾄツelaru conductor James Ehnes violin JAMES NEWTON HOWARD Violin Concerto (DSO premiere) RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 2 Virtuosic Canadian violinist James Ehnes returns in the first Detroit performances of a concerto by celebrated orchestral and film composer James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games series), and guest conductor Cristian Mﾄツelaru leads Rachmaninoff窶冱 romantic Second Symphony.

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James Gaffigan

JUNE 1 - 3, 2017

TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH James Gaffigan conductor Nicola Benedetti violin STRAVINSKY Circus Polka WYNTON MARSALIS Violin Concerto (DSO premiere) TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5 Having just performed its debut with the London Symphony Orchestra to critical acclaim, guest conductor James Gaffigan and violin sensation Nicola Benedetti present a new concerto

by Jazz phenom Wynton Marsalis! The DSO’s incredible 2016-17 Season then comes to celebratory finale with 33 Tchaikovsky’s majestic Fifth Symphony.

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