Sunday, March 26, 2000
Many CSO firsts mark maestro's last year
BY JANELLE GELFAND
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will honor outgoing music director Jesus Lopez-Cobos for his vision in its 2000-2001 season.
In his 15th and final season as music director — dubbed Vista — Mr. Lopez-Cobos will preside over four world premieres and 16 subscription premieres. The new music is part of Mr. Lopez-Cobos' plan to look to the future. His other idea is to revisit some favorite music of his time here.
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TICKETS
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Series I (8 Friday mornings or Saturday evenings): $76-$312.
• Series II (7 Friday or Saturday evenings): $66.50-$273.
• Series III (7 Friday or Saturday evenings): $66.50-$273.
• Series IV (5 Thursday evenings): $52.50-$215.
• 14 concerts: $126-$518.
• 22 concerts: $187-$759.
• Six Classic Choice vouchers for best available seats: $120-$165.
• Ten Classic Choice vouchers: $175-$250.
Renewal information will be sent to subscribers this week. Single tickets ($12-$49) go on sale Aug. 16. For information, visit cincinnatisymphony.org or call (513) 381-3300.
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“For me, this season is a time to reflect on the memorable moments we have had together these 14 years,” Mr. Lopez-Cobos said in a prepared statement. “So I want to recall again great music that has very special meaning for me and the orchestra.”
Mr. Lopez-Cobos will go out on a high note if the orchestra takes an international tour. A five-week gap between Jan. 24, the orchestra's annual trip to Carnegie Hall, and March 1 indicates a tour may be in the works.
Mr. Lopez-Cobos, who will conduct 13 of the 22 weeks, declined to discuss the season with the Enquirer.
A distinguished roster of guest conductors includes Paavo Jarvi, 37, who will begin his tenure as the CSO's 12th music director in fall 2001. Mr. Jarvi will conduct Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique in three performances (Oct. 5-7), with the remainder of his program to be determined. He'll also appear with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at Hilbert Circle Theatre (Sept. 22-23).
James Conlon, music director of the Cincinnati May Festival and principal conductor of the Paris Opera, will make his first appearance at a CSO subscription concert (Oct. 27-28) when he leads Zemlinsky's Lyrische Symphonie (Lyric Symphony in Seven Songs) and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Mr. Conlon, an ardent champion of Zemlinsky, will be joined by American soprano Christine Brewer and the renowned Swedish baritone Hakan Hagegard.
Cincinnati Pops conductor Erich Kunzel will observe his 35th anniversary with the CSO in December.
Other guest conductors are Robert Spano, the music director-designate of the Atlanta Symphony, the popular Japanese maestro Junichi Hirokami, twentysomething Viennese conductor Christian Arming (who made his Cincinnati Opera debut in July), a young American named Michael Christie, the May Festival's Robert Porco and CSO associate conductor John Morris Russell.
Guest soloists include violinists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Gil Shaham and Vadim Repin and pianists Yefim Bronfman, Terrence Wilson and Van Cliburn gold medalist Jon Nakamatsu.
Flutist James Galway, who last appeared in May 1997, will return in November. A five-member percussion group, Nexus, will make its debut in April.
Guitarist Pepe Romero will pay homage to Mr. Lopez-Cobos' Spanish heritage in opening weekend concerts. And teen prodigy Han-Na Chang, a cellist, will accompany the orchestra to Carnegie Hall (Jan. 24) after her Cincinnati performances (Jan. 19-20).
In November, the CSO will highlight its own players, with harpist Gillian Benet Sella taking center stage (Nov. 3-4) and a concert featuring section players (Nov. 10-11).
Two commissioning projects will highlight the season program. The CSO will give the world premiere of Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (Sept. 22-23), as part of a co-commissioning project involving more than 25 American orchestras. Ms. Zwilich composed the work for pianist Jeffrey Biegel, a regular on the Xavier Piano Series, who will be making his CSO debut.
And a new composition by Cincinnati composer Joel Hoffman will hail the 125th anniversary of the founding of Cincinnati's Hebrew Union College (March 23-24).
“Next year marks 125 years of Hebrew Union College's scholarly and cultural contributions to the city of Cincinnati,” Rabbi Kenneth Ehrlich, dean of HUC's Cincinnati campus, says. “We are honored and delighted that Maestro Lopez-Cobos, the CSO and Joel Hoffman will share the joy of that celebration with us.”
An abundance of choral music will keep the May Festival Chorus unusually busy. Mr. Porco, director of choruses, will conduct Mozart's Requiem and Bach's Cantata No. 191 (Oct. 13-14), with the distinguished mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson and Metropolitan Opera tenor Stanford Olsen. Soprano Alessandra Marc, mezzo Florence Quivar, tenor Jon Villars and bass Simon Estes will join Mr. Lopez-Cobos in Verdi's Requiem in January.
Extracts from Wagner's Parsifal will represent the fourth in Mr. Lopez-Cobos' series of Wagner operas performed in concert version, with Margaret Jane Wray as Kundry and bass Charles Austin as Klingsor. (Who will play Parsifal has not been announced.)
The orchestra will record a Shostakovich album (Symphony No. 1 and No. 15) and a Spanish-themed disc of music by Turina and Debussy for Telarc.
To honor Mr. Lopez-Cobos' tenure — the second-longest in CSO history — subscribers will receive a limited edition CD with selections from the 22 Telarc recordings made by the CSO's 11th music director.
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