Since 1968, the London Sinfonietta has championed new music, often offering commissions. In a program called Decades on Jan. 24, the ensemble celebrates some of the pieces they’ve helped bring to fruition, including works by Oliver Knussen, Tansy Davies, Hannah Kendall, Tōru Takemitsu, and Thomas Adès. Geoffrey Paterson conducts. https://londonsinfonietta.org.uk/whats-on/decades
Enchanted Woods: Shakespeare & Song, Feb. 2-11 at Portland Opera, is an evening of story and song inspired by 20th-century adaptations of Shakespeare’s enduring works. It will feature poetry and music by a variety of composers and literary figures, collected in homage to the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio. https://www.portlandopera.org/
Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford died in 1924, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland is marking that centenary by performing some of his works throughout their season. The first Stanford 100 concert takes place Feb. 2 and features his Clarinet Concerto with soloist Carol McGonnell. Mihhail Gerts will also conduct Brahms’ Fourth Symphony. https://bit.ly/45tBrQR
Lyric Opera of Orange County celebrates the 100th anniversary of Ethel Smyth’s Fête galante with a production directed by Diana Farrell, calling it “a debaucherous dance-dream.” This story thrusts familiar commedia dell’arte characters into the psyche of the 20th century. Performances March 8-10. https://lyricoperaoc.org/
On March 22, Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the world premiere of Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder by performing the cantata at Carnegie Hall. The ASO has a special connection to this work because its founder, Leopold Stokowski, conducted the American premiere with the Philadelphia Orchestra. https://americansymphony.org/concerts/schoenberg-gurre-lieder/
To mark the 100th birthday of its founder, Neville Marriner, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields will present three programs in three locations under the guest directorship of Joshua Bell and Jaime Martin. The April 15 concert will include a world premiere by British composer Errollyn Wallen along with some classics that Marriner […]
The year 2024 marks the 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s birth. The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal will celebrate that landmark with Rafael Payare conducting two Schoenberg works: Verklärte Nacht and the symphonic poem Pelleas und Melisande. The April 24-25 concert also features Maria João Pires as the soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. https://www.osm.ca/en/concerts/maria-joao-pires-returns-to-the-osm/
The chance to hear the Pittsburgh Symphony, under Manfred Honeck, play Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on the 200th anniversary of the work’s first performance is reason enough to head to Heinz Hall. But on the April 25-28 program, audiences will also be treated to a world premiere, a new work by Canadian composer Samy Moussa, whose […]
As a fitting farewell to music director Louis Langrée, who is leaving the Cinncinati Symphony after the 2023-34 season, the orchestra has commissioned a new “orchestral song cycle” by Anthony Davis. The world premiere will take place May 10-12. Soprano Latonia Moor will be the soloist. The second half of the program will be Stravinsky’s […]
The Arditti Quartet, celebrating its 50th season, will present world premiere of a new work by Sarah Nemtsov on May 11 at the Elbphilharmonie. The program consists of works from the late 20th century (Elliott Carter, Iannis Xenakis, Helmut Lachenmann) as well as the 21st (Olga Neuwirth, Brian Ferneyhough). https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/whats-on/50-years-of-the-arditti-quartet/20269
At the Austin Chamber Music Festival on June 9, the American String Quartet will mark its 50th birthday. The first half of the program is Beethoven's Op. 18, No. 1, followed by Shostakovich's Quartet No. 13. Then pianist Anton Nel, a longtime collaborator with the quartet, will join the ensemble in Schumann's Piano Quintet in […]
To open its 75th anniversary season, the Aspen Music Festival has co-commissioned a new work by Alan Fletcher, called Three American Songs. The soloist will be soprano Renée Fleming, who will also sing three songs by Richard Strauss, a nod to the first work of the evening, Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra. Respighi’s Pines of Rome […]
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Oregon Bach Festival’s Organi Institute, alum Greg Zelek will give a solo organ recital on July 8. Repertoire includes works of Bach, Florence Price, and Léon Boëllmann. https://calendar.uoregon.edu/event/greg_zelek_organ_recital
2024 is the 100th anniversary of Gabriel Fauré’s death, and the Ravinia Festival will mark the occasion with a chamber-music tribute on July 13. This program matches Fauré’s timelessly serene Piano Quintet No. 2 to Ravel’s arrangement of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, as well as the Venezuelan-born Reynaldo Hahn’s own Piano Quintet (featuring […]
Witness the future of classical music in the making as the New Jersey Symphony performs works by four emerging composers selected for the Edward T. Cone Composition Institute, celebrating its 10th anniversary. Institute Director Steven Mackey hosts the culminating concert, and Christopher Rountree takes the podium for this July 20 program. https://www.njsymphony.org/events/detail/new-scores-2024-edward-t-cone-institute-concert
To open the 40th season of Sun Valley Music Festival, Timothy Higgins has composed Fanfare, which will receive its world premiere on July 29. Then soprano Meechot Marrero returns to Sun Valley to sing a few of her favorite arias. The concert closes with Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony. https://www.svmusicfestival.org/event/opening-night-with-meechot-marrero/
Talk about going out with a bang! The Grant Park Music Festival closes its 2024 season with Mahler’s mighty Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand, so named because of the many forces required to perform it. Carlos Kalmar, marking the end of his 25-year tenure as the festival’s artistic director, will lead the Grant […]
It’s been 50 years since the Minnesota Orchestra inaugurated Orchestra Hall. To mark that milestone, conductor Thomas Søndergård will lead two Ravel works played in that inaugural performance: Valse nobles et sentimentales and a movement from Miroirs. Two Thomas Adés works will also be on offer in this Sept. 26-28 season opener: The Exterminating Angel Symphony […]
As its season opener Oct. 4-6, the Annapolis Symphony will play an eclectic mix of old and new music. Tania León’s 2022 work Pasajes will be followed by Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, featuring soloist Brian Ganz. The second half of the program, conducted by artistic director José-Luis Novo, comprises two symphonies: Bruckner’s Third (second […]
In celebration of Bruckner’s 200th birthday, the Milwaukee Symphony will present the composer’s Fourth Symphony, the Romantic, with Ken-David Masur on the podium. The first half of this Oct. 4-5 program comprises Clarice Assad’s Nhanderú and Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, featuring bass-baritone Dashon Burton. https://www.mso.org/concerts/bruckners-fourth-symphony/62509/
