LOVE LETTER TO PARIS
SEPTEMBER 16 and 17, 2025 at 6:30pm Forest Theater, Carmel
Brad Hogarth, Associate Conductor
Malinda DeRouen, Leberta Lorál, and Bernard Holcomb
Featuring:
American in Paris
Amélie
Beauty and the Beast
La Bohème
Phantom of the Opera
Ratatouille and more!
Jayce Ogren, Music Director and Conductor
Steven MACKEY
Saxophone Concerto (world premiere)
Timothy McAllister, saxophone
RACHMANINOFF
Symphony No. 2
The sumptuous themes of a Russian Romantic unite with rock-infused saxophone riffs in our stirring season opener. Rachmaninoff’s supremely melodic Symphony No. 2 returns after Jayce Ogren made his brilliant Monterey Symphony debut with it in the spring of 2022. Trailblazing saxophonist Timothy McAllister also returns for the world premiere of a concerto by GRAMMY-winning American composer Steven Mackey. Born from his background as a rock guitarist, Mackey’s music spins improvisatory motifs into large-scale works both grooving and dramatic.
STEVEN MACKEY
TIMOTHY McALLISTER
Jayce Ogren, Music Director and Conductor
Jonathan Bailey HOLLAND
Dream Elegy
GRIEG
Piano Concerto in A minor
Orion Weiss, piano
BRUCKNER
Symphony No. 9
ORION WEISS
Spanning a wide range of emotion, this concert offers music both epic and intimate. Jolted to life by its famous opening chords, Grieg’s beloved Piano Concerto is the self-assured statement of Norway’s most famous musical son. The concerto continues to reign as an audience favorite and features brilliant piano soloist Orion Weiss. Anton Bruckner’s sprawling Symphony No. 9 is a passionate symphonic statement that produces what many call a “cathedral of sound.” The concert opens with American composer Jonathan Bailey Holland’s Dream Elegy, a work he describes as “a somber response to events related the #blacklivesmatter movement.”
Jayce Ogren, Music Director and Conductor
MENDELSSOHN
The Hebrides
MOZART Ave verum corpus
Monterey Symphony Singers
SCHUBERT Mass in G major
Monterey Symphony Singers
HAYDN
Symphony No. 104 in D major, “London”
Voices carry at Sunset Center when we are joined by the Monterey Symphony Singers for a concert of Classical and Romantic masters. Tonal waves crash on the rocks of the Scottish Isles in Felix Mendelsohn’s vivid concert overture The Hebrides
Composed for the Catholic Feast of the Corpus Christi, Ave Verum Corpus is a radiant gem and among a handful of works Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed in the final year of his life. Hear art song wunderkind Franz Schubert’s venture into sacred choral music in the sublime Mass in G major. The program concludes with a composer credited with inventing the symphony form: Franz Joseph Haydn and his propulsive Symphony No. 104, “London.”
Jayce Ogren, Music Director and Conductor
Marina LÓPEZ
Moño
Commissioned by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program, an initiative of the League of American Orchestras in partnership with the American Composers Orchestra
SIBELIUS
Symphony No. 7
TCHAIKOVSKY
Violin Concerto in D major
Stefan Jackiw, violin
This program features a beloved concerto, an elemental symphony, and an exciting world premiere. Called “brilliantly skillful and selflessly musical” (Financial Times), violin soloist Stefan Jackiw joins the orchestra for one of classical music’s greatest hits: Tchaikovsky’s mighty Violin Concerto, a work as grand as it is intimate. The orchestra traverses the vast landscapes of Symphony No. 7 by Finnish master Jean Sibelius, a work the composer called a “symphonic fantasia.” The concert opens with a new work by Hispanic-American composer Marina López whose music explores the psychological, ethnomusicological, and physical roots of her musical heritage.
MARINA LÓPEZ STEFAN JACKIW
Jayce Ogren, Music Director and Conductor
Frank ZAPPA
The Dog-Breath Variations
Joseph BOLOGNE
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. XI
John
WINEGLASS
Clarinet Concerto (world premiere)
Mariam Adam, clarinet
BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”
Fascinating histories merge in a program of eclectic rarities, a world premiere, and a heroic classic. Musical gadfly Frank Zappa took one of the themes from his band, Mothers of Invention, and created the electrifying symphonic work Dog Breath Variations. Joseph Boulogne, a French Chevalier of African descent, was the music instructor of Marie Antoinette, a champion fencer, and composer of the delightfully animated Symphony No. 2. Composer-in-residence John Wineglass returns with another anticipated premiere: a new concerto for versatile clarinetist
Mariam Adam. The concert concludes with Beethoven’s iconic portrait of Napoleon: the gripping and revolutionary Symphony No. 3, “Eroica.”
JOHN WINEGLASS
MARIAM ADAM
Jayce
Ogren, Music Director and
Conductor
SMITH/KEY, arr. Zaninelli
The Star-Spangled Banner
Sarah Kirkland SNIDER
Marmoris (University of Michigan co-commission)
BERNSTEIN
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
COPLAND
Lincoln Portrait (with honorable guest narrator)
William DAWSON
Negro Folk Symphony
Jayce Ogren’s insightful examination of American music continues in this wide-ranging program exploring the musical character of the nation on the approach of its 250th birthday. The concert opens with a profound arrangement of our National Anthem by Italian-American composer Luigi Zaninelli. Sarah Kirkland Snider, a composer with “an unerring knack for breathtaking beauty” (The New Yorker), presents an anticipated new work co-commissioned by Monterey Symphony. Next up is Leonard Bernstein’s effervescent Symphonic Dances from West Side Story followed by icon Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait. The season concludes with African-American composer William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, a 1934 work that explores the Black experience in America and has an enigmatic conclusion, representing an unresolved struggle.
SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER
2O25-2O26 SEASON
SUNSET CENTER, CARMEL
*
SINGLE TICKETS
On sale starting July 1, 2O25
TIER 1 / $90
TIER 2 / $70
TIER 3 / $50
ACCESSIBLE
DISCOUNTED TICKETS
$12 tickets are available for students, teachers, and military for all concerts (Tier 3 only at Sunset Center). Tickets can be purchased over the phone or online.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
Secure your seats and choose from: Saturdays at 7:30pm or Sundays at 3:00pm
TO ORDER YOUR SUBSCRIPTION:
Call our Ticket Office at 831.646.8511 10am-4pm, Monday-Friday
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TICKET OPTIONS: 2O25-2O26 PRICING*
LOVE LETTER TO PARIS TICKETS*
