New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) announced its upcoming Centennial Season (September 2023 - June 2024) programming at a free, festive Season Announcement Concert last evening in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, co-hosted by
Music Director Andreas Delfs and Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik.
"We've worked hard to put together a season like no other," exclaims Maestro Delfs. "It will be full of blockbuster performances, a nod to our founder
George Eastman and the history of this orchestra, world-renowned guest artists - including many with Rochester connections - and the world premieres of four new works commissioned specifically for our 100th Season!"
"We've worked hard to put together a season like no other," says
Music Director Andreas Delfs of the RPO's Centennial.
Kicking off the Centennial celebration will be the first Special Concert of the 2023-24 Season: Rochester Welcomes Renée Fleming on Saturday,
September 9, 2023, at 8 PM in Kodak Hall. The Rochester native and Metropolitan Opera star comes home for one night only to join Maestro Delfs and the RPO.
The 14-concert Philharmonics Series opens with
Andreas Conducts Beethoven's Eroica and closes with Beethoven's monumental Ninth Symphony: Centennial Season Finale: Ode to Joy. In between: Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Mahler's Fifth Symphony, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Holst's The Planets, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Ravel/Mussorgsky's
Pictures at an Exhibition, and other beloved masterpieces.
World-renowned guest artists with RPO and/or Rochester ties include former RPO
Music Director David Zinman, former Assistant Conductor
Peter Bay, favorite pianists Olga Kern and Jon Nakamatsu, and Rochester's own Garth Fagan Dance. Internationally acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein; violinists
Sarah Chang,
Karen Gomyo, and
Benjamin Beilman; bass-baritones Eric Owens and Andrew Bogard; and pianist Yefim Bronfman will also take the Eastman Theatre stage.
Specially commissioned works by four renowned American composers will receive world premieres:
Aaron Jay Kernis,
David Hertzberg,
Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Derrick Skye. Methuselah, by Iranian-American composer Gity Razaz (commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with the generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation) will make its Rochester premiere.
The nine-concert Pops Series marks Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik's 30th season with the RPO and features a special tribute concert to the Maestro in addition to his 30th Gala Holiday Pops. Also included: Twist & Shout: The
Music of the Beatles, A
Symphonic Experience and evenings with Kelli O'Hara, Shayna Steele, and former RPO Principal Conductor/Artistic
Director Bob Bernhardt.
