NEWS AND LINKS: Pasadena Symphony announces 2011-2012 season

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

Taking another step on its recovery road, the Pasadena Symphony announced today that its 2011-2012 season will have five concerts with two performances each (2 p.m. and 8 p.m.) at Ambassador Auditorium and a single-performance holiday concert Dec. 3 at All Saints Church, Pasadena.

As is the case with the current season, guest conductors will lead four of the classics concerts next season while the PSO continues without a music director. James DePreist, who continues to fill the role of music advisor, will conduct the final concert next season.

The 2011-2012 classics schedule is:

• October 29, 2011
Mei-Ann Chen, conductor; James Ehnes, violin
An-Lun Huang; Saibei Dance, from Sabei Dance Suite No. 2; Korngold: Violin Concerto; Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5.
The Taiwanese-born Chen, one of the rising young female conductors today, is music director of the Memphis Symphony and has recently been named to replace Paul Freeman as music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta. Ehnes won a Grammy in 2008 for his recording of the Korngold, Walton and Barber Violin Concertos with Bramwell Tovey and the Vancouver Symphony.

• January 14, 2012
David Lockington, conductor; Andrew Shulman, cello
Philip Sawyers: The Gale of Life; Elgar: Cello Concerto; Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 (Scottish)
A native of Great Britain, Lockington has been music director of the Modesto Symphony since 2007 (Pasadena Symphony CEO Paul Jan Zdunek came to Pasadena from a similar job with the Modesto Symphony). Shulman is principal cellist of the both the PSO and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra

• February 18, 2012
Rossen Milanov, conductor; Esther Keel, piano
Borodin: Polovstian Dances; Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5 (Egyptian); Rimsky-Korsakov: Scherezade
Milanov took over last fall as music director of the Princeton Symphony in New Jersey after serving for several years as associate conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Born in Los Angeles, the 25-year-old Keel made her debut with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 13, is a graduate of The Juilliard School, and now teaches and studies at The Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles.

• March 31, 2012
Nicholas McGegan, conductor. Nareh Arghamanayan, piano
Mendelssohn: The Fair Melusina overture; Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20; Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (Eroica)
Better known for his work with period-instrument orchestras and baroque music, McGegan and the PSO tackle one of Beethoven’s largest and most important works. The 22-year-old Arghamanayan won the 2008 Montreal International Music Competition.

• April 28, 2012
James DePreist, conductor. Christine Brewer, soprano
Wagner: Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey from Gotterdämerung; Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs; Schubert: Symphony No. 9 (The Great)
Brewer, one of the great Wagnerian sopranos of our generation, returns to Southern California to sing Richard Strauss’ poignant look back at Romanticism.

Subscriptions are now on sale; single tickets will be priced from $35 to $100. Information: www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Comments

[bieber supra]

He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs.