蜜柚直播 Symphony Orchestra is joining the worldwide celebration of Beethoven鈥檚 250th birthday next year as it also brings in opera鈥檚 biggest superstar as part of the 2020 蜜柚直播 Desert Song Festival.
鈥淭his is probably the biggest name of any singer who has ever played with the orchestra,鈥 TSO Music Director Jos茅 Luis Gomez said of the Feb. 6, 2020, concert with Ren茅e Fleming.
Fleming鈥檚 concert is one of two that the orchestra is presenting in conjunction with the song festival. On Jan. 24, Gomez鈥檚 fianc茅, the Italian soprano Federica Lombardi, will perform works by Rossini with the TSO Chorus. Lombardi is fast making a name for herself on international stages, and her debut this season with the New York Metropolitan Opera was critically acclaimed.
But the orchestra鈥檚 focus next season, its 91st, will be squarely on Beethoven, a composer that Gomez said continues to be revolutionary nearly 200 years after his death.
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鈥淏eethoven means so much to the core of classical music,鈥 Gomez said. 鈥淚t is one of those opportunities to bring back the great music of Beethoven, the great symphonic music of Beethoven. And in my case, of course, it is repertoire that hasn鈥檛 been done quite often in 蜜柚直播. It鈥檚 a great opportunity to bring back some of those lesser known symphonies like No. 2, No. 4 and No. 8.鈥
Throughout the season, the orchestra will perform all of Beethoven鈥檚 symphonies except his Ninth; the orchestra performed that big choral masterpiece symphony to end its 2017-18 season last April.
The 2019-20 season opens with Beethoven鈥檚 Seventh Symphony, a work that the orchestra performed for its first concert in 1929. Gomez has programmed the symphonies on both the Classics and MasterWorks series including double-dipping on a pair of concerts 鈥 the orchestra will perform Nos. 8 and 2 on Jan. 11-12, and Nos. 1 and 6 on Feb. 14 and 16, 2020.
鈥淗e is so revolutionary, so ahead of his time, so Beethoven,鈥 Gomez said. 鈥淭here is nothing else of any composer that sounds like him. For me, his symphonies are examples of how revolutionary he was (compared to) other composers.鈥
Other highlights of the 2019-20 season:
- Hey, hey it鈥檚 the Monkees: OK, it鈥檚 one of them, original lead singer Micky Dolenz, and he鈥檚 singing his old band鈥檚 biggest hits on Feb. 8-9 in the SuperPops series.
- ET鈥檚 phoning the Old Pueblo: The orchestra will perform a cineconcert to the film 鈥淓.T. The Extra-Terrestrial鈥 over Thanksgiving weekend Nov. 30-Dec. 1.
- Guest artists galore: Multiple Grammy-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin makes her first TSO appearance in nearly 20 years on Nov. 15, 17; Cliburn gold medal winner Yekwon Sunwoo plays Beethoven鈥檚 Piano Concerto No. 3 Sept. 20, 22; fiddler Tessa Lark plays the TSO premiere of 鈥淭he Sky Concerto鈥 for violin, a work the orchestra co-commissioned for her with several other orchestras; and conductor Mei-Ann Chen, who has become a favorite of TSO audiences, returns to conduct 鈥淭ubalicious鈥 featuring TSO principal tuba player David Morgan on Feb. 1-2.
The TSO will close the season next April with the TSO Chorus and Mahler鈥檚 behemoth Symphony No. 2 in C minor, 鈥淩esurrection.鈥