Week of Events
Hannigan Stages Poulenc
Conductor and soprano Barbara Hannigan will join Orchestre symphonique de Montréal on Feb. 21-22 for the North American premiere of her staged version of Poulenc’s lyric drama La voix humaine, with projections by Clemens Malinowski. The program opens with Hannigan conducting Strauss’ Metamorphosen. https://www.osm.ca/en/concerts/richard-strauss-and-poulenc-with-barbara-hannigan/
Xi Wang’s Trumpet, Violin Concerto Premieres
On Feb. 22-25, the Dallas Symphony, trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, and violinist Karen Gomyo will perform the world premiere of Xi Wang’s Year 2020, a double concerto. Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 will feature organist Bradley Hunter Welch. The program, conducted by Fabio Luisi, will open with Flare by the young German composer Sophia Jani. https://www.dallassymphony.org/productions/saint-saens-organ-symphony/
Pianist Andres Premieres Own Work
Pianist Timo Andres will play the world premiere of one of his own new works at Carnegie Hall on Feb. 23. The wide-ranging program opens with Robin Holcomb’s Wherein Lies the Good and proceeds through works by Ellington, Copland, and Philip Glass, plus the New York premiere of Gabriella Smith’s Imaginary Pancake. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2024/02/23/timo-andres-piano-0730pm
World Premiere Cello Work in Austin
As part of a program titled Silent Wood, Deep River, the Austin Chamber Music Center will present the world premiere of Daniel Temkin’s Rise for cello and piano on Feb. 23-24. Cellist Annie Jacobs-Perkins and pianist Michelle Schumann will also play works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Louis Ballard, Stratis Minakakis, and Gabriel Fauré. https://austinchambermusic.org/event/silent-wood-deep-river/
SoundBox Features Adès And More
Throughout the 2023-34 season, the San Francisco Symphony will present its SoundBox series, curated by four musicians on each of four weekends. The small Soundbox space is designed to allow for multi-sensory, interactive experiences. Expect the unexpected. Get ready to see musical experiments in action. The details of the SoundBox programs remain under wraps, but […]
‘Malcom X’ Reaches West Coast
The West Coast will have its first chance to see Robert O’Hara’s new staging of Anthony Davis’ The Life and Times of Malcolm X when Seattle Opera presents the work Feb. 24-March 9. The cast includes Kenneth Kellogg, Joshua Stewart, Leah Hawkins, and Ronnita Miller. Kazem Abdullah conducts. https://www.seattleopera.org/
W.G. Still Opera Gets Rare Performance
As part of its Recovered Voices series Feb. 24-March 17, the LA Opera and conductor James Conlon will perform two little-known one-acts. William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA stars Norman Garrett and Nicole Heaston as an ordinary American couple making misguided choices to get ahead. Alexander Zemlinsky’s The Dwarf is based on a heartbreaking tale […]
Shaham Brings Bates Concerto to Cali
American composer Mason Bates completed his Violin Concerto in 2012, but it has never been performed on the West Coast. The San Diego Symphony and violinist Gil Shaham will correct that omission on Feb. 24-25 in a program that also includes The Ring Without Words, an orchestral arrangement by Lorin Maazel of highlights from Wagner’s […]
New Production of Zemlinsky Rarity
Although Alexander Zemlinsky wrote the opera George the Dreamer in 1904-6, it was not premiered until 1980. The story, although filled with the magic of fairy tales, takes a realistic look at the pain of being an outsider in society. Oper Frankfurt will present a new production of this rarely seen work on Feb. 25-March […]
