Cello great Yo-Yo Ma is returning to the Tucson Symphony Orchestra next spring, one of several highlights of the just announced 95th season.
His concert on May 9, 2024, will be his third with the TSO and second under Music Director José Luis Gomez.
The season also includes the return of guest conductor Keitaro Harada, a University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music alumnus making his main stage TSO debut in a pair of Classics concerts Nov. 10 and 12; and a guest appearance in March 2024 by Gomez’s wife, the internationally critically-acclaimed opera singer Federica Lombardi.
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Opera singer Federica Lombardi joins bass Morris Robinson, tenor Mario Chang and alto Ronnita Miller for the TSO’s Verdi’s Requiem concert.
Lombardi joins bass Morris Robinson, tenor Mario Chang and alto Ronnita Miller for the TSO’s Verdi’s Requiem concert as part of the 2024 Tucson Desert Song Festival.
Gomez and the TSO’s artistic administrator and orchestra manager Benjamin Nisbet laid out the upcoming season in a pair of gatherings with season subscribers on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at the Tucson Symphony Center.
“I’m crossing my fingers the audiences are coming back (to pre-COVID levels) and that it will continue into next season,” TSO President and CEO Paul Meecham told the audience of about 60 attending the afternoon session.
After a slow start to the 2022-23 season last fall, the orchestra has seen bigger audiences in recent weeks, including near sellouts of its concert with Pink Martini earlier this month and packed houses for last weekend’s Beethoven’s Ninth concert featuring the TSO Choir and guest vocalists as part of the 2023 Tucson Desert Song Festival.
The orchestra is hoping its new “Classics With A Twist” Friday night series could help it reach new audiences. Friday night performances of three classical concerts — “Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition” on Sept. 22, “Ravel and Dvořák” on Nov. 10 and Ravel’s “Boléro” on Jan. 19 — will be performed without an intermission and will feature audience interaction including on-stage introductions of the music and artists and a chance after the concert to ask musicians questions.
Tucson Symphony Orchestra conductor José Luis Gomez is working to find ways to enhance the audience experience in the upcoming season.
“We have noticed after the pandemic that every orchestra is championing ways to expand audiences,” Gomez said after the presentation. “This is an example of us trying to reach out (to new audiences) and offer a different experience to our existing audience.”
Yo-Yo Ma’s concert — performing Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto — is part of the orchestra’s Special Events series, which replaces its SuperPops series. Single tickets for that concert will not be released until November; season subscribers have first dibs and the concert is not part of the create-your-own season packages.
Other Special Events include the annual “Messiah” holiday concert Dec. 16-17; a tribute to the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue” Feb. 24-25, 2024; and “She’s Got Soul” with vocalist Capathia Jenkins performing hits from the leading ladies of soul and R&B including Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan and Adele March 16-17, 2024.
Vocalist Capathia Jenkins will perform hits from the leading ladies of soul and R&B including Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan and Adele.
More Special Event concerts, including a cineconcert, will be added to the lineup later, Gomez said.
Other season highlights include the world premiere of Robert Muczynski’s 1958 ode to his Illinois hometown “Galena: A Town” Suite for Orchestra; Muczynski was a longtime resident of Tucson until his death in 2010.
The orchestra also will premiere two works it co-commissioned: Peter Boyer’s “Horizons” during the Yo-Yo Ma concert; and Jennifer Higdon’s “Cold Mountain” Suite, on Oct. 7-8, one of six works by women composers the orchestra will perform next season.
In addition to Harada, guest conductors next season include Mei-Ann Chen, Aram Demirjian, François Lopez-Ferrer and Katharina Wincor.
After a prolonged COVID interruption, the TSO will resurrect its Up Close chamber series that showcases members of the orchestra in the intimate setting of the Tucson Symphony Center on North Sixth Avenue. The TSO’s 2023-24 artists in residence, Ilmar Gavilan and Jaime Amador of the Harlem Quartet will be featured on Oct. 28-29 as a preview of the pair’s performance with the TSO Nov. 4-5 in the “Mainly Mozart” MasterWorks series concert.
Season tickets are on sale now through the orchestra box office at 2175 N. Sixth Ave., by calling 520-882-8585; or online at tucsonsymphony.org.
For the complete season lineup, visit tucsonsymphony.org.
Your Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s brass quintet came together this past Saturday to record “Amazing Grace” in memory of Dorothy Dyer Vanek.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at [email protected]. On Twitter @Starburch
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