Breadth, depth hallmarks of this season

By Charles Greenfield

cdgpm@bellsouth.net

South Florida’s 2008-2009 classical musical season exhibits a wealth and variety of events following last season’s heavy fanfare of gymnastic-fingered Chinese pianists, full-throated orchestras, and mature choral groups. Here are some of the highlights of the new season.

FESTIVAL MIAMI – The University of Miami Frost School of Music’s 25th season of Festival Miami continues to dominate the early fall South Florida musical season with nearly a month of two dozen performances, from Academy Award Winners and faculty artists to a Blues legend and Argentina’s most celebrated composer, Alberto Ginastera. All events are located at UM’s Gusman Concert Hall or Victor E. Clarke Recital Hall unless otherwise indicated. Opening night Oct. 9 at the Arsht Center’s Knight Concert Hall finds the Frost Symphony Orchestra, Chorale and Wind Ensemble hosting Academy Award winning composer John Corigliano and guest violinist Jennifer Koh in the composer’s “Red Violin” Concerto with conductor Yongyang Hu, Music Director of the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra. Joshua Haberman will conduct the Frost Chorale in “L’Invitation au Voyage” on Baudelaire poems and Gary Green conducts the Frost Wind Ensemble in the Florida premiere of Corigliano’s Circus Maximus. The following evening, Oct. 10, the Ritz Chamber Players, America’s all-African-American ensemble, play Dvorak and George Walker, the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize. Music Dean Shelton Berg honors pianist-in-residence Ivan Davis with the Bergonzi String Quartet and the Miami Saxophone Quartet Oct. 11. Sunday the 12th the Frost Symphony Orchestra perform FSOM faculty-composers Kam, De Sena, Leider, McLoskey, Murciano and Sleeper works for free at the Clarke Recital Hall at 3 p.m.

The 2000 American National Chopin Piano Competition winner Ning An plays the Polish master’s works on Oct. 12. Monday Oct. 13 Friends of Chamber Music present Brahms and Dvorak with violinists Cho Liang Lin and Adele Anthony, violist Roberto Diaz, cellist William De Rosa and pianist Joseph Kalichstein. Jazz concerts Oct. 16-18 include vocalist Tierney Sutton and JV-1, The Joshua Redman Trio, and the Frost Concert Jazz Band with saxophonist Eric Marienthal. The Spam Allstars play latin, funk, hip hop and electronic improv Sunday, Oct. 19. Two free concerts, on Oct. 22 and 23 present contemporary music and songwriter Bruce Hornsby. Hornsby and friends (Steve Miller, Ricky Scaggs, Jon Secada) are backed up by the Frost School’s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra at UM’s BankUnited Center Oct. 23. There’s Broadway excitement with songs from Alan and Marilyn Bergman Oct. 25.

Jazz historian Buzz McCoy joins Music Dean Shelly Berg with a history of jazz piano with the likes of Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson and Fats Waller on the 26 at 5 p.m. in Clarke Recital Hall. At 6 p.m. in Gusman Concert Hall blues great and 2008 Grammy Award winner Honeyboy Edwards strums Mississippi Delta tunes. From Brazil listen to Baiao, Frevo, partido alto, Sambe and Bossa Nova are displayed by jazz guitarist Nelson Faria and the Frost Studio Jazz Band on Oct. 29. The following evening Pablo Ziegler, hector del Curto and Claudio Ragazzi regale listeners with tango and classics. Puerto Rican pianist/bandleader Eddie Palmieri, winner of nine Grammys, plays Latin jazz and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. On Nov. 1 dance lovers will certainly enjoy examples of Salsa, Cha cha cha, Paso Doble, Tango, Samba, Foxtrot and the Waltz with Isaac and Laura Altman. And for the final two nights, Nov. 2 & 3, pianist Luis Ascot, soprano Virginia Correa Dupuy, the Frost Symphony Orchestra, Shelly Berg, the Bergonzi String Quartet, FSOM faculty and the Frost Chorale in collaboration with the Miami Civic Music Association present the Piano Concerto No. 1, early songs, chamber and orchestra music, the Pampeanas No. 1 and 2, and Cantata para America Mãigica by Argentina’s greatest 20th century composer, Alberto Ginastera. His daughter Georgina will host both evenings.

NEW WORLD SYMPHONY – Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the New World Symphony start the 21st anniversary season Oct. 17-19 at Miami Beach’s Lincoln Theater with Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole  and Piano Concerto for the Left Hand played by the talented Yuja Wang. MTT will also conduct Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra and highlight the evenings with the Suite from The Firebird (1919 version). MTT returns Oct. 25 with “Heroes and Philosophers” in Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra and Beethoven’s 3rd (“Eroica”). Its Chamber Music Series presents Schumann’s Andante and Variations, Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, and Schubert’s Cello Quintet with cellist Carter Brey on Nov. 2. On Nov. 8 & 9 Alasdair Neale conducts Copland’s Symphony No. 3, Korngold’s Violin Concerto with Vadim Gluzman, and a work-to-be-announced by young American composer Kevin Puts. On the 22nd “Accents from the British Isles” consists of composer-conductor Thomas Adès in his These Premises Are Alarmed and Tevot and U.S. premieres of Diner and The Stronge by John Barry.

MTT returns Dec. 12-14 with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Emanuel Ax, Brahms Symphony No. 1, and Ernst Toch’s Bunte Suite. The year ends Dec. 21 with “Horn Legacies” with Mozart’s Horn Quintet, Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 and Gyorgy Ligeti’s Horn Trio. Starting off 2009 Jan. 9-11 Conductor Robert Spano leads the NWS in “French Impressions” with Henri Dutilleux’s Shadows of Time, Debussy’s Iberia, and Berlioz’s Harold in Italy. After a “Symphony with a Splash” program-to-be-announced the 17th, the “fellows” return Jan. 24 with superstar Joshua Bell in the Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 and pianist-conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy leading them in Mahler’s 1st, “Titan”. An all-Mendelssohn concert appears Feb. 1 with the Piano Trio No. 2, String Quartet No. 2, and the Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra with violinist Corey Cerovsek and pianist Paavali Jumppanen. After “Concerto Showcase” evenings the 6th and 7th, the month ends on the 22nd with America’s early 20th century master, Charles Ives, and his Piano Sonata No. 2, “Concord, Mass., 1840-60” with guest Jeremy Denk and the Ives/Brant: A Concord Symphony led by MTT. March 1st begins with the Chamber Music Series in Joseph Haydn’s Trio in D major for Flute, Cello and Piano, the String Quartet in G major, and Symphony No. 31, “Horn Signal”. Bernard Labadie conducts March 7th and 8th an all-Handel program with selections from Samson, Saul, Julius Caesar, Persichore, Alcina, Rodelinda and Alexander Balus with countertenor David Hansen and concludes with the Organ Concerto No. 1 played by Richard Paré. After a “Concert for Kids” on the 15th and “Symphony with a Splash” on the 21st, Peter Oundjian conducts the NWS in Barber’s perennial favorite Adagio for Strings, Mozart’s Symphony No. 20, and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 5 on March 28th and 29th.

“A French Menagerie” continues the Gallic invasion April 5 with flutist Paula Robison as they play Franz Doppler’s L’Oiseau des bois, the Debussy/Schoenberg: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Gounod’s Petite symphonie, and Ravel’s Piano Trio. On April 10 and 11 Marin Alsop conducts with guest cellist Alisa Weilerstein in a program of Liszt’s Les Préludes, Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul for Cello and Orchestra, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7. In “Dutch Masters and Spiritual Journeys” conductor Reinbert de Leeuw leads the NWS on April 18 in Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1947 revision), Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Andante for String Orchestra, Louis Andriessen’s Vermeer Pictures (U.S. premiere) and Claude Vivier’s Siddhartha. On April 26 the Chamber Music Series continues with “American Voices: Riffs and Street Songs” with Ives’s Largo for Violin, Clarinet and Piano, Tilson Thomas’s Street Song for Symphonic Brass, Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra, Crumb’s Voice of the Whale, and Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs. The season ends at the Arsht Center on May 2 with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and the Piano Concerto No. 1 with Vladimir Feltsman.

CONCERT ASSOCIATION OF FLORIDA – Programming and reasonable ticket rates remain top-notch at this venerable South Florida music organization in its 42nd season. At Arsht Center’s Knight Concert Hall their Miami Great Orchestra Series season starts Nov. 6 with Russian star conductor Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra in Prokofiev’s Chout Symphonic Suite, op. 12 (“The Buffoon”), the Cinderella Suite No. 3, op.109, Steel Steps Suite, op. 41 (Le pas d’acier), and Concerto No. 4 with pianist Alexsei Volodin. On Jan. 1 the Budapest Festival Orchestra under music director and conductor Ivan Fischer bring Middle Europe to the stage with violinists Jozsef Lendvay, Sr. and Jr. and cimbalom player Oszkar Okros to Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody no. 3 in C-sharp minor, Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 15 in B-flat major and No. 1 in G minor, Sarasate’s nimble-fingered Zigeunerweisen, Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 11 in D minor, and his Symphony No. 1 in C minor, op. 68.

A not-to-miss opportunity for symphony lovers will be the Feb. 2 arrival of Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic in Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, op. 9, Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3 in G major, op. 55, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The Orchestra Series ends April 10 with Vladimir Spivakov’s leading the National Philharmonic of Russia with violinist Mayuko Kamio in the Sibelius Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from “Eugene Onegin,” Stravinsky’s The Fairy’s Kiss: Divertimento, and Prokofiev’s Three Pieces from Romeo and Juliet Suite. The Arsht Great Performers Series leads off with “Jazz/Classical Crossover” Dec. 6 with Jose Antonio Molina conducting The Florida Symphony in the Michel Camilo Piano Concerto and an additional program to be determined. The series continues with “The One and Only” Wynton Marsalis on January 22nd with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. In “Bluegrass/Classical Crossover” Feb. 2 composer Mark O’Connor with The Florida Symphony under Steven Mercurio and the Miami Gospel Choir perform Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine, O’Connor’s Call of the Mockingbird, Gottschalk’s Night in the Tropics, and Carpenter’s Skyscrapers. Multi-talented violinist-violist-conductor Pinchas Zukerman leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with cellist Amanda Forsyth in Stravinsky’s Concerto in D for Strings, Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, and Brahms’ Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra.

The series finale on March 24 brings renowned violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnernberg with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to play Haydn’s Symphony No. 6 (“Le Matin”), Piazzola’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires for Violin & Orchestra, Melinda Wagner’s New Brandenburg Concerto (Orpheus Commission), and Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Hadyn. The Concert Association of Florida’s presence at The Broward Center spotlights great orchestras like the Kirov Orchestra & Valery Gergiev with pianist Alexsei Volodin in Prokofiev (Nov. 11), the Florida Symphony & Jose Antonio Molina with cellist Alisa Weilerstein in Sibelius and Dvorak (Dec. 17), the Czech Symphony & Theodore Kuchar with violinist Jennifer Frautschi in Dvorak and Bruch, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra & Eri Klas with pianist Joyce Yang in Arvo Part, Prokofiev and Dvorak, and the National Philharmonic of Russia & Vladimir Spivakov with violinist Mayuko Kamio in Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky. In their Broward Pops Series savor the sounds of Jose Feliciano and the Pops Orchestra Dec. 12, Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra on March 11, and the voice of Mariza with the Pops Orchestra March 27.

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA – In its third season Miami Residency the CO and music director Franz Welser-Möst return to the Arsht Center’s Knight Concert Hall on Jan. 30 & 31 with Wagner’s Wesendonck Songs sung by soprano Measha Brueggergosman and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 (“Leningrad”). Guest conductor Kurt Masur visits March 6 & 7 with Beethoven’s “Leonore” Overture No. 3, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (Louis Lortie), and Beethoven’s 7th. Their final concert brings guest conductor Pinchas Steinberg April 3 & 4 in Barber’s Overture to The School for Scandal, Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Nikolaj Znaider, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.

SUNDAY AFTERNOONS OF MUSIC – In its 28th season the popular Sunday Afternoons of Music season run by Doreen Marx continues its fine programming at UM’s Gusman Concert Hall at 4 p.m. In its second concert Sept. 28 during Festival Miami, UM Frost School of Music Dean and pianist Shelton Berg joins the UM-faculty Bergonzi String Quartet. Their program consists of: Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19 in C major “Dissonant,” K. 465, Bergonzi violinist Scott Flavin’s arrangements of Clara Schumann, Alma Mahler and René Touzet, Flavin’s “The Beautiful Mundane,” and Ravel’s Quartet in F major. Pianist Shari Wosner, winner of the 2005 Avery Fisher Career Award performs Dec. 14. Upcoming soprano Eglise Gutierrez, who appears as Violetta in La Traviata in November for the Florida Grand Opera, sings arias Jan. 4. On March 14 cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Connie Shih perform in a special Saturday evening performance. His program features Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata No 2 in D major Op 58, Schumann arr.Isserlis: Violin Sonata in D minor KP 90, Janacek: Pohádka and Martinu: Cello Sonata no. 1. Violinist Stefan Jackiw, who started at age 4 and has played with the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony, plays March 22.

A special Holocaust Remembrance program on May 31 will feature violinist Misha Vitenson, violist Michael Klotz, pianist Daniel Wachs, and cellist Jason Calloway. The season ends June 14 with violinist Giora Schmidt, the 2005 Samuel Sanders Artist Award from the Classical Recording Foundation. The Sunday Afternoons of Music for Children will present fun, family offerings during the season like the Frost Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Sleeper in Peter & The Wolf narrated by Martin Bookspan Nov. 23, “Strings and Things” with Cleveland Orchestra members Carolyn and Steve Warner and saxophonist James Umble on April 4, and Matthew Sabatella and The Rambling String Band on June 6.

CHOPIN FOUNDATION On Oct. 10 in collaboration with the F.I.U. School of Music (South Campus) they sponsor the Polish violinist Mariusz Patyra, winner of the Paganini Competition (2001), at Wertheim Performing Arts Center in music by Wieniawski and Pablo de Sarasate. On Oct. 12 during Festival Miami the Chopin Foundation presents Ning An, winner of the 2000 National Chopin Piano Competition, in an all-Chopin concert in co-production with the UM Frost School of Music.

Free piano concerts in their “Chopin For All” will be given at the Broward County Main Library and the following day at Granada Presbyterian Church in Coral Gables: Hubert Rutkowski and narrator Magdalena Oliferko in “Julian Fontana – in the shadow of Chopin” Nov. 8 & 9; Julianna Avdeeva, winner of the I.J. Paderewski International Piano Competition, Dec. 6 & 7; Spencer Myer, the 2006 Fellow of the American Pianists Association and winner of the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition, Jan. 24 & 25; Eric Zuber, the first prize winner of the 2007 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Feb. 21 & 22; Young Pianists Concert (Miami-Dade and Broward counties), March 21 & 22; Winner of the 2008 National Chopin Piano Competition of Poland, April 25 & 26; Claire Huangci, the 2006 winner of the Kosciuszko Foundation’s Chopin Piano Competition, May 16 & 17 . Its membership salon style concerts at the Alexander Hotel on Miami Beach include: Igor Lovchinsky, Nov. 16; Andrew Tyson, Jan. 11; and Gail Niwa, May 3. 

SERAPHIC FIRE – The talented professional vocal ensemble under artistic director Patrick Dupré Quigley is quickly making a name for itself both regionally and nationally. With the introduction this fall of their newly created Firebird Chamber Orchestra, the singers and players will dominate the South Florida singing scene. Their first in a series of nine concerts focuses on 18th century Cuban composer Esteban Salas on Sept. 26 at First United Methodist Church, and on the Oc. 28 at the Miami Beach Community Church on Lincoln Road. The Firebird debuts with Baroque (Telemann’s Don Quichotte and Vivaldi’s Concerto for 4 Violins) and Modern (Barber’s Adagio and Diamond’s Rounds for Orchestra) Oct. 9th-12th at the Arsht Center. New Orleans, conductor Quigley’s hometown, offers a jambalaya of musical trends, from blues to jazz to soul.

Its “When the Saints Go Marching In” concerts recall hymns like Just a Closer Walk With Thee and Didn’t it Rain Oct. 31 (First United), Nov. 1 (Miami Beach), and the Nov. 2 (All Saints). With so little of the Leipzig master played locally it’s a pleasure to go back to J.S. Bach again at the Arsht Center with his Cantata No. 82 Ich Habe Genung and Schubert’s Death and the Maiden with the Firebird. Dec. 19 brings both Seraphic and Firebird to perform Handel’s Messiah at the Arsht Center in what looks like will become an annual pleasure. In a nice and nostalgic turn to Vienna’s famous pair, singers and orchestra will celebrate Mozart & Salieri Jan. 18 at the Arsht Center ending the program with Symphony No. 40.

Greek Orthodox sacred music is intoned with compositions by John Tavener and Arvo Part on Feb. 13t (First United), and Feb. 15 (Miami Beach). Giovanni Pergolesi’s masterwork Stabat Mater will be performed April 17 (First United), April 18 (All Saints), and April 19 (Miami Beach). The final concert, “The Jew and the Gentile,” recreates the works of Italian Salamone Rossi with reference to his relationship with the more famous Claudio Monteverdi on May 16 (All Saints), and May 17 (Temple Emanu-El, Miami Beach).

FRIENDS OF CHAMBER MUSIC – The venerable and always serious classical music organization run by Julian Kreeger continues its splendid line-up at UM’s Gusman Concert Hall. FCM teams up with Festival Miami on Oct. 13 with violinists Cho Liang Lin and Adele Anthony, violist Roberto Diaz, cellist William De Rosa and pianist Joseph Kalichstein in Dvorak’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat, op. 87 and Brahms’s Piano Quintet in F minor, op. 34. Mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey and pianist Ken Noda perform Jan. 14 and pianist Yevgeny Sudbin solos on Jan. 20 (F.I.U.’s Wertheim Auditorium).

Go to Music Calendar