CSO Season to Include Europe

(first published in The Cincinnati Post Sept. 13, 2004)

Music director Paavo Järvi will conduct 14 of the CSO’s 22 subscription concerts at Music Hall this season, in addition to a two-week tour of Europe in October-November and a Jan. 24 date at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

The five-country tour will take the orchestra to Vienna, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Cologne, Mannheim, Paris, Enschede (The Netherlands), Madrid and Barcelona. It will be the CSO’s debut in the French capital.

Tour repertoire includes Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7, Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5, Carl Nielsen’s "Maskarade" Overture and Erkki-Sven Tüür’s "Aditus." Pianist Helene Grimaud will be soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and Schumann’s Piano Concerto.

At Carnegie Hall, the CSO will perform the Sibelius No. 5 and a U.S. premiere, Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen’s Symphony No. 8 ("Autumnal Fragments," given its world premiere by Järvi and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in April). German pianist Lars Vogt, a bona fide "hit" at Music Hall in 2002, will perform Grieg’s Piano Concerto.

The CSO will record two CDs for Telarc: a Czech pairing - Dvorak’s "New World" Symphony and Bohuslav Martinu’s Symphony No. 2 - and a Hungarian pairing - the Concertos for Orchestra by Bela Bartok and Witold Lutoslawski.

Also on the CSO Music Hall menu are Strauss’ "Ein Heldenleben" and "Also sprach Zarathustra," Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, Schubert’s Symphonies No. 8 and 9, Brahms’ Symphony No. 3, Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies No. 2 and 4 and a passel of CSO premieres, including John Adams’ "Lollapalooza," Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 ("Sinfonia espansiva"), Arvo Pärt’s Symphony No. 2, Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Interlude from "Sangen," "Network" by Kevin Puts, "Gambit" by Esa-Pekka Salonen and "Fanfare Ritmico" by Jennifer Higdon.

The guest list boasts popular returnees like pianists Emanuel Ax, Radu Lupu, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Awadagin Pratt and Alexander Toradze, violinists Sarah Chang and Robert McDuffie and cellist Steven Isserlis, plus some intriguing debutantes, such as violinists Lisa Batiashvili and Baiba Skride, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianists Lukas Vondracek and Olli Mustonen.

Three CSO players will take the solo spotlight. Harpist Gillian Benet Sella and flutist Randolph Bowman will perform Mozart’s Concert for Flute and Harp and trumpeter Philip Collins will join Toradze in Shostakovich’s Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings.

The guest conductor list is an attractive and distinguished one, with James Conlon leading an orchestral performance of Tchaikovsky’s "Nutcracker" in December, Boston Pops conductor/former CSO associate conductor Keith Lockhart in Holst’s "The Planets" in February, also James DePreist, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and Hans Graf. May Festival chorus director Robert Porco will lead the CSO and chorus in an entire concert of CSO premieres, including Haydn’s "Mass in Time of War," Vaughan-Williams’ "Dona nobis pacem" and John Corigliano’s "Elegy" in November.

Järvi has invited fellow Estonian and 2000 Sibelius Conducting Competition Winner Olari Elts to make his U.S. debut with the CSO in February.

The 2004-05 CSO season.

Friday, Saturday. Beethoven, "Leonore" Overture No. 3. Sibelius, "Kullervo." Charlotte Hellekant, mezzo-soprano. Jaakko Kortekangas, baritone. Estonian National Male Choir. Paavo Järvi, conductor.

Sept. 24, 25. Berio/Boccherini "Quattro Versioni Originale della" Ritirata notturna di Madrid. Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 27, K.595. Brahms, Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor arr. for orchestra by Schoenberg. Emanuel Ax, piano. Järvi.

Oct. 1, 2. Kodaly, "Dances of Galanta." Saint-Saens, Cello Concerto No. 1. Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4 ("Italian"). Alisa Weilerstein, cello. Järvi.

Oct. 8, 9. Henri Dutilleux, Timbres, espace, movement or La nuit etoilllee ("The Starry Night"). Saint-Saens, Piano Concerto No. 4. Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 2 ("Little Russian"). Stephen Hough, piano. Hans Graf, guest conductor.

Oct. 15, 16. Nielsen, Overture to "Maskarade." Bartok, Violin Concerto No. 1. Mahler, Symphony No. 5. Lisa Batiashvili, violin. Järvi.

Oct. 21-23. Erkki-Sven Tüür, "Aditus." Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4. Dvorak, Symphony No. 7. Helene Grimaud, piano. Järvi.

Nov. 19, 20. John Corigliano, "Elegy." Haydn, "Mass in Time of War." Vaughan-Williams, "Dona nobis pacem." Janice Chandler-Eteme, soprano. William McGraw, baritone. May Festival Chorus. Robert Porco, guest conductor.

Dec. 3-5. Tchaikovsky, "The Nutcracker" (orchestral performance). James Conlon, guest conductor.

Jan. 14, 15. Stenhammar, Interlude from "Sangen." Brahms, Piano Concerto No. 1. Strauss, "Ein Heldenleben." Radu Lupu, piano. Järvi.

Jan. 20-22. Aulis Sallinen, Symphony No. 8 ("Autumnal Fragments"). Grieg, Piano Concerto. Sibelius, Symphony No. 5. Lars Vogt, piano. Järvi.

Jan. 29, 30. Arvo Pärt, Symphony No. 2. Mozart, Concerto for Flute and Harp, K.299. Beethoven, Symphony No. 2. Randolph Bowman, flute. Gillian Benet Sella, harp. Järvi.

Feb. 3-5. John Adams, "Lollapalooza." Bernstein, Serenade. Holst, "The Planets." Robert McDuffie, violin. Women of the May Festival Chorus. Keith Lockhart, guest conductor.

Feb. 18, 19. Skrowaczewski, "Music at Night." Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 1. Strauss, "Also sprach Zarathustra." Terrence Wilson, piano. Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, guest conductor.

Feb. 25, 26. Mozart, Ballet Music from "Idomeneo." Ravel, Piano Concerto in G Major. Liszt/Adams, "The Black Gondola." Shostakovich, Symphony No. 9. Olli Mustonen, piano. Olari Elts, guest conductor.

March 4-6. Martinu, Symphony No. 2. Mendelssohn, Piano Concerto No. 1. Brahms, Symphony No. 3. Lukas Vondracek, piano. Järvi.

March 10-12. Kevin Puts, "Network." Prokofiev, Violin Concerto No. 2. Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 ("New World"). Baiba Skride, violin. Järvi.

April 1, 2. Edino Krieger, "Passacaglia for the New Millennium." Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23, K.488. Schubert, Symphony No. 8 ("Unfinished"). Liszt, "Les Preludes." Awadagin Pratt, piano. Roberto Minczuk, guest conductor.

April 16, 17. Tobias Picker, "Old and Lost Rivers." Bruch, "Scottish Fantasy." Schubert, Symphony No. 9 ("Great"). James Ehnes, violin. James DePreist, guest conductor.

April 22, 23. Haydn, Symphony No. 97. Dvorak, Violin Concerto. Lutoslawski, Concerto for Orchestra. Sarah Chang, violin. Järvi.

April 28-30. Esa-Pekka Salonen, "Gambit." Gershwin, Piano Concerto in F. Bartok, Concerto for Orchestra. Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano. Järvi.

May 6, 7. Jennifer Higdon, "Fanfare Ritmico." Shostakovich, Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings. Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4. Alexander Toradze, piano. Philip Collins, trumpet. Järvi.

CSO concerts are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m. Subscriptions may be purchased in packages of four, five, six, seven, eight, 12, 14, and 22 concerts. The popular Thursday series (five concerts) includes a complimentary buffet dinner beginning at 6:15 p.m. in the Music Hall lobby. There are four Sunday matinees. Flexible coupons, redeemable for any Music Hall concert, are available in packages of six and ten.

Subscriptions range from $58-$243 for a four-concert Sunday series to $247.50-$1,039.50 for all 22 concerts. Coupons are $174 and $232.50 for six, $285 and $365 for ten.

Single tickets are $21.75-$60.50, $10 for students the week of the concert. Seniors are half-price concert weeks (evening concerts only). There are discounts for groups of 10 or more, and half-price ZIPTIX are available at the CSO sales office in Memorial Hall next door to Music Hall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. concert days (the preceding day for Friday and Sunday matinees).

Call (513) 381-3300, or visit the CSO web site at www.cincinnatisymphony.org.