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Columnist and arts writerDETROIT ARTS: Live and Worth Watching “DSO Opens Inviting Season”
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The Detroit Symphony Orchestra performs Free Community Concerts and Launches Inclusive Classical Season
By Vivian DeGain
Published in The Oakland Press, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is busier than a hive of bees preparing for a fall harvest festival that will bring the DSO into the community for free concerts to diverse audiences – as well as launch the new 2009-10 season, featuring world-acclaimed soloists.
Music Director Leonard Slatkin, leading for his first full year at the DSO baton, has lined up old friends, new friends and an amazing program.
Bringing the best of all worlds together – that is one of the trademarks of this wonderful conductor.
Maestro Slatkin, just returned to Detroit from Croatia, said this season will celebrate the 100th birthday of American composer Samuel Barber in several upcoming concerts – and in the next few weeks will feature guitar virtuoso Sharon Isbin.
“Sharon is arguably the best Spanish Renaissance guitarist today. We have performed together before and she has such great flair and personality. In a pre-concert, she will bring her instrument to play and discuss some of her technique with the audience,” Slatkin said.
The “Isbin Plays Rodrigo” concerts include Alla Borzova’s “To the New World” a DSO premiere, Rodrigo’s “Fantasia para un Gentilhombre” and Rachmaninoff’s “Symphony No. 2.”
October begins a DSO focus on American music and Barber, who lived March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981.
“Barber is the most significant and important composer from the U.S.,” the Maestro said. “He was so misunderstood in his lifetime, and remained such a quiet individualist. The DSO, over the course of this season will present three concerts to honor his genius.”
He said the DSO has a particular affinity for Barber, recording several of the composer’s works in the 1990s under Neeme Järvi. Slatkin also recorded much of Barber’s work, and has programmed the composer’s most popular works along with lesser-known gems.
The salute begins Oct. 1 with three favorites, the Overture to The School for Scandal, the Adagio for Strings, and the Piano Concerto, featuring Detroit’s own James Tocco.
The 2009-10 season, with the help of a $900,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support Slatkin’s artistic vision and recordings, features superstars Sir Neville Marriner, Sir James Galway, Hilary Hahn, Midori, André Watts and Regina Carter, and DSO soloists Emmanuelle Boisvert and Robert deMaine.
Maestro Slatkin is known for creative programming that is accessible and intelligent. He will lead 12 of the season’s 24 concerts.
The Mellon Foundation grant, he said, has added more than a drop in the bucket to the season’s funding. “It’s a very nice ripple effect.”
Reserve tickets for free community concerts
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Leonard Slatkin will present five free concerts and a special DSO Open House Sept. 14-20 to share the enjoyment of live musical performance with audiences around the metro community.
The DSO Open House concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20 features the gifted 13-year-old soloist Sarina Zhang performing both the piano and cello at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. Zhang performs Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and then, on cello, Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme.
“I think this is the first time it’s ever been done,” Slatkin said about Zhang’s ability to excel in two different instruments and perform both with the DSO. “She was the talk of the entire community this summer. Everyone was raving about her talent,” he said.
The award winning Zhang was named a 2009 Davidson Fellow and won first prize in the New York Ensemble 212 Young Artist Competition for Violoncello. She started piano lessons at age 5 and studies at The Juilliard School in piano, cello and composition. She has performed for National Public Radio and PBS television on “Live from Carnegie Hall.”
Designed for the whole family, the community concerts include bright, engaging and familiar compositions like the music from Star Wars by John Williams.
The program has Bernstein’s Candide Overture; Copland’s Hoe Down From Rodeo; Anderson’s Waltzing Cat, Syncopated Clock and Typewriter; and Joplin’s The Entertainer, just to name a few.
The concert will also feature the new Circuits by Cindy McTee, the winner of the DSO 2008 Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Competition for Female Composers.
“This is a fast, energetic composition, with cross currents of the electronic sounds we hear in our daily life. And it’s mechanical — like a machine on steroids,” Slatkin said.
Speaking to audiences at each concert, McTee who is a professor of music at University of North Texas and the recipient of the Guggenheim, Fulbright and NEA Fellowships, will briefly engage and inform.
“Our DSO in the community programs allows us to bring free music to everyone in the community,” Slatkin said. Additionally, community concert attendees will receive a voucher to enable them to attend another DSO concert this season for a discounted price of $10 for adults and $1 for children under 18. Redeem the future vouchers at the DSO box office one-half hour prior to a concert.
The free open house and community concerts require advance reservations to ensure there is enough seating. Concerts and contacts:
* Monday Sept. 14 at 10:45 a.m. (children only) and 8 p.m. at Seligman Performing Arts Center, 22305 W. 13 Mile in Beverly Hills. Call 313-576-5111 for tickets.
* Tuesday Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave., Dearborn. Call 313-943-2354 for tickets.
* Thursday Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center, 1627 W. Fort St., Detroit. Call 313-576-5111 for tickets, program still to be finalized.
* Friday Sept. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Detroit School of Arts, 123 Selden St. Detroit. Call the Max M. Fisher Music Center box office at 313-576-5111 for tickets.
* DSO Open House at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20 at Orchestra Hall, call 313-576-5111 for tickets.
All Detroit Symphony Orchestra information at www.detroitsymphony.com.
Season Information:
Maestro Slatkin and the DSO continue the 2009-10 classical season at Orchestra Hall on Sep. 24-27 with guitar soloist Sharon Isbin, performances at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 3 p.m. Sunday. The season resumes with a Samuel Barber tribute Oct. 1-3, with performances at 8 p.m. Thursday; 10:45 a.m. Friday; and 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Orchestra Hall is at 3711 Woodward Ave. in Detroit. Tickets are $19-$125; numerous subscription packages and special discounts available. Call 313-576-5111 or visit www.detroitsymphony.com.
