Toledo, Ohio (Top40 Charts/ Toledo Symphony) In May, Stefan Sanderling celebrates ten years with the Toledo Symphony. The TSO season finale plays to Mr. Sanderling's strengths--the orchestral mastery of Jean Sibelius and the joy of Dvorak's beloved New World Symphony.
The community is invited to help celebrate the occasion and the artistic growth of the Toledo Symphony over the past 10 years. The concerts take place in the Peristyle on May 18 & 19.
Sanderling arrived in Toledo just months before the first anniversary of
September 11, 2001. After the tragic events of that date, many orchestras gave memorial concerts emphasizing the power of music to bring people together to heal.
Sanderling programmed a special concert at the Strahanan Theater to memorialize the anniversary, in which the orchestra performed a Bach fugue, Barber's Adagio for
Strings and, surprisingly, Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony.
According to Principal Second Violinist, Merwin Siu, "The choice of the Fifth was unconventional, but somehow worked to bring everyone's raw emotions to the foreground. In retrospect, it was brilliant."
Subsequently, Sanderling would create the cycle of Bruckner Symphonies at Rosary Cathedral that are now an annual tradition and a highlight of the symphony season. In March, he won the prestigious Joseph Kilenyi Bruckner Medal of Honor from the Bruckner Society of
America in recognition of this ambitious achievement in a mid-sized market such as Toledo.
Sanderling's programs have ranged from an all-Viennese evening of Waltz to the mammoth Mahler Symphony No. 9. Recently, he conducted the first-ever Toledo Symphony Pro-Am, in which adult amateur musicians worked with symphony musicians towards a performance in the Peristyle.
Said one Pro-Am participant, "It is difficult to describe what was best. I cannot choose between playing at the Perstyle, playing with the symphony, or being under the direction of Stefan Sanderling...This event was the greatest gift the Toledo Symphony could have given to amateur musicians in Toledo."
Throughout the years, Sanderling performed with a variety of leading international soloists in Toledo, including Leon Fleisher, Andre Watts, and Leila Josefowicz. Local collaborators have included the Masterworks Chorale, Glacity Theatre
Collective and choruses from Bowling Green
State University, Goshen College and the Cleveland Orchestra.
The crowning achievement of Sanderling's tenure is arguably the Symphony's debut at Carnegie Hall one year ago this month. The ambitious program of "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" (Stoppard/Previn) and Shostakovich's Sixth Symphony was recognized internationally and lauded by The New York Times, The Financial Times of London, The Wall Street Journal and other publications.
Says TSO President and CEO Kathleen Carroll, "We can only see the future getting better as the rapport between Stefan and his musicians continues to develop. The sky is the limit, and our community will benefit."
Tickets for the Toledo Symphony's Classics finale presentation of Dvorak's New World Symphony start at $15 and can be purchased by calling 419-246-8000 or visiting https://www.ToledoSymphony.com.
The Toledo Symphony
The Toledo Symphony has a rich 65-year history of serving Northwest Ohio and Southwest Michigan. The Symphony has grown from a core group of twenty-two part-time musicians to a regional orchestra of nearly eighty professional musicians who consider the Toledo Symphony their primary employer.
With roots as early as 1838, the Symphony sees itself as the musical heart of Northwest Ohio, supporting Neighborhood and Regional Concerts, a School of
Music and two youth orchestras in addition to traditional concert offerings (Classics, Pops, Mozart & More and Chamber).
