Artistic Director Maestro
Grant Cooper introduced the programs, and explained what influences their
musical choices.
“Over the 10 years that I have been serving as artistic
director and conductor, our plan has been to use repertoire both to educate and
entertain audiences, but also to help the orchestra to grow.”
Opening weekend, the symphony
will be joined by soloists from other orchestra. David Kim, concertmaster of
the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Carter Brey, principal cellist of the New York
Philharmonic, will play the Double Concerto by Brahms.
Violinist and composer Mark
O’Connor will visit in November to perform his Fiddle Concerto for a concert
that will also include the world premiere of Grant Cooper’s Appalachian
Autumn. Maestro Cooper discussed the
connection between Appalachian and classical music:
“When we thought of Mark
O’Connor, the great Nashville-based fiddle player – a fantastic player, but
also a very fluent composer, and put him on the main stage series, part of our
classical series, we believe that this music, the music of Appalachia, is classical music. It is music of our heritage, and as a result, it
will last as long as we last, and it becomes therefore classics.”
Virtuoso pianist Valentina
Lisitsa, who will play Prokofiev in the fall, has a special connection with the
West Virginia Symphony, as Cooper explained: “You may remember Valentina from
other collaborations, but most significantly for me was September 15,
2001, when Valentina was
living in Florida. She and her
husband drove two days non-stop to be here, as you recall, all flights were
cancelled at the time. And she was part
of our healing process in our community.”
Other highlights include
symphonies by Beethoven and Brahms, the Carnival of the Animals, and music by
Stravinsky, Mahler, and Debussy.
The Pops series includes a
Broadway program, with singers Ryan Hardiman and Randall Reid-Smith, and an
ABBA-inspired concert. Symphony holiday
traditions also continue with the “Home for the Holidays” concert and Tchaikovsky’s
ballet The Nutcracker.
There will also be three
daytime “Family Discovery” concerts, including baseball and NASA-themed
programs
The Symphony continues to
look even further ahead – to a proposed concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City during their 2013-14 season. That will be the symphony’s 75th
anniversary, as well as the state’s Sesquicentennial.
More details from the WV Symphony’s season
announcement can be found the Classically Speaking blog .