The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra has announced a 2005-2006 season that builds on the themes Music Director Arie Lipsky has established during his tenure: a strong presence of local artists; inclusion of vocal as well as instrumental works; evenings organized around a single idea; and a grand work to finish the season, in this case, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67.
"We're capitalizing on the kinds of things we did this season," said A2SO Executive Director Mary Steffek Blaske, hinting at a future that might include concerts like the orchestra's April grand finale at Hill Auditorium, which drew more than 2,700 people - 1,000 more than would fit at the orchestra's usual home at the Michigan Theater.
Many of those 1,000 people have already signed up for subscriptions, Blaske said. And among '04-'05 subscribers, the renewal rate stood at 80 percent as of last week.
"We are pleased on the business side of things, and ecstatic on the artistic quality side," Blaske said.
The A2SO season opens on Sept. 17 with "Let's Dance," a concert that features Ravel's "La Valse," Weber's "Invitation to the Dance," a suite from R. Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier," and the Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365. The featured soloists - on fortepiano - are Ann Arbor's Penelope Crawford, a well-known player on the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Music, and David Breitman, another well-known artist who directs the historical performance program at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
October, a month for characters and costumes, brings "Suites and Masks" on the 22nd: Stravinsky's "Pulcinella Suite;" a suite from Handel's opera "Ariodante," featuring the young mezzo-soprano Alison Tupay; and the Schumann Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. 61.
Nov. 5, "Symphonic Legends" materialize in works by Haydn (the Symphony No. 90); Tchaikovsky (the Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 17, "Little Russian"); and Daugherty (the Violin Concerto).
Composer Michael Daugherty, a member of the U-M music faculty, is no stranger to A2SO audiences. His violin concerto brings back to town a spectacular young Bulgarian soloist, Bella Hristova, whom the A2SO introduced to audiences at 15.
The A2SO begins 2006 with its usual Mozart Birthday Bash, but the Jan. 21 concert is a special sampler program that celebrates the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. On the bill of the concert are excerpts from Mozart's Symphony No. 33 in B-flat Major, K. 319; the Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466, with the young Israeli pianist Roman Rabinovich; the "Ave Verum Corpus," performed by Ann Arbor's Vocal Arts Ensemble; and "The Marriage of Figaro," with U-M faculty Melody Racine and Daniel Washington heading up the operatic ensemble.
Tchaikovsky rechannels Mozart March 11, in his "Variations on a Rococo Theme," with Yehuda Hanani as cello soloist, in a concert focusing on "Variations." The concert also introduces contemporary composer Miguel Del Aquila, via his "Conga"; and the Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98.
On April 22, there is the Beethoven Symphony No. 5, plus two clarinet works, by Debussy and Weber, with guest soloist Eli Eban, and a setting, for narrator and orchestra, of "Three Poems by Walt Whitman" by Paul Fetler.
In addition to its Saturday evening concerts at the Michigan Theater, the A2SO once again offers its Family Series. Nov. 6 brings Gemini and "The Orchestra is Here to Play." Dec. 10 is the A2SO's traditional "Sing Along with Santa." Jan. 22, families get their own special Mozart birthday celebration in the form of "Mozart Comes to Ann Arbor," written by Ann Arbor children's theater playwright Jeff Duncan. The family concerts conclude March 12 with "Freedom," a celebration of freedom with music from around the world.
To order subscriptions to A2SO concerts, call (734) 994-4801 or check on line at www.a2so.com. The six-concert main-stage subscription to Saturday evening concerts at the Michigan Theater offers patrons a 10 percent discount off the single ticket price; the season costs from $60-$211. A mini-series, four of the six mainstage concerts, offers a 5 percent discount, for a subscription ranging in price from $40-$148. There is also a "Dead Composers Society Series," for people 21-45: four concerts at $20 each, with no choice of seating. Family Series subscriptions are $40 for adults and $20 for children.
Single tickets, available beginning May 20, are $10-$39.
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©2002-2008
Ann Arbor Symphony
220 E Huron St., Suite 470
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
(734) 994-4801
