Richard Strauss News

February 19, 2015 - Richmond, Virginia Music Director Steven Smith and Executive Director David Fisk announced the 2015-16 season of the Richmond Symphony (RSO). The season features new series, a change of location, world-renowned guest artists and concerts designed to appeal to diverse audiences throughout the Richmond region. The season will again be led by the artistic team of Steven Smith, Lewis T. Booker Music Director Chair, Keitaro Harada, Associate Conductor and Dr. Erin R. Freeman, Director of the Richmond Symphony Chorus and James Erb Choral Chair.

Minnesota Opera presents five operas in its 2015-2016 season, which includes the highly anticipated world-premiere thriller, The Shining, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Moravec. Other season highlights include Puccini's Tosca, an encore of Mozart's The Magic Flute, Dvo?ák's Rusalka and the first Minnesota Opera production of Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos in three decades.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2015-16 season will present 227 opera performances in a varied repertory, ranging from rarely performed masterpieces to perennial audience favorites. The season features six new productions and 18 revivals, starring the world's greatest singers and conductors, many of them in repertory they have not previously performed with the company.

Marin Alsop leads the BSO in a program of Viennese-inspired favorites, including Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales ("Noble and sentimental waltzes") and La Valse ("The Waltz"), Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier ("The Rose Cavalier") Suite, and Haydn's Cello Concerto, performed by Argentinean cellist Sol Gabetta, Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Sunday, March 22 at 3 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore. Ms. Gabetta is making her return after her highly acclaimed debut with the BSO in December 2012. Please see below for complete program details.

Opera Philadelphia's 41st Season serves as a reminder that the company is, as The Washington Post reports, “taking chances, offering unusual and new work along with repertory staples, and carving out a place for themselves as proponents of American opera.” As General Director & President David B. Devan and Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovarisannounced today, the carefully curated 2015-2016 lineup offers two new American operas: the East Coast Premiere of Cold Mountain, by composer Jennifer Higdon and librettist Gene Scheer and starring the dream team of Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard, and Jay Hunter Morris (February 2016); and the World Premiere of ANDY: A Popera, a Warhol-inspired opera-cabaret featuring a score by Dan Visconti and original songs by Heath Allen (September 2015).

Marin Alsop leads the BSO in a program of Viennese-inspired favorites, including Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales ("Noble and sentimental waltzes") and La Valse ("The Waltz"), Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier ("The Rose Cavalier") Suite, and Haydn's Cello Concerto, performed by Argentinean cellist Sol Gabetta, Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Sunday, March 22 at 3 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore. Ms. Gabetta is making her return after her highly acclaimed debut with the BSO in December 2012.

The North Carolina Symphony continues its 2014-15 Pops Series on Valentine's Weekend with performances of the romantic classic Casablanca in Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall tonight, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 14, at 3 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. Max Steiner's Oscar-nominated score will be played live by the Symphony, while the film is projected on the giant screen. Constantine Kitsopoulos will conduct.

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic on the EUROPE / SPRING 2015 tour, April 16-May 1, 2015.

As the first two Festival Orchestra concerts of Arizona Musicfest's 2015 season have sold out well in advance of their performance dates, Arizona Musicfest has opened its dress rehearsals for the performances of Scheherazade and Mozart's Clarinet Concerto on February 24 at 10:30 am, and Beethoven, Bach and The Blue Danube on February 26 at 1:00 pm.

The noted American conductor David Bernard will lead The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony in an ambitious program of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) and the Wagner/Maazel The Ring Without Words on Sunday afternoon, February 22nd, 2015, 3 p.m. at the Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, Time Warner Center, New York, NY.

Tickets are now on sale for Beautiful Soup's festival of plays by Steven Carl McCasland. Priced $18 each, audiences also have the option to see all 5 plays at a reduced price.

Having completed their presentation of Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi in September, Washington Concert Opera gears up for its second performance of the season, the rarely performed opera, Guntram, by Richard Strauss. In his 13th season with Washington Concert Opera, Artistic Director and Conductor, Maestro Antony Walker, takes the stage for this highly ambitious presentation. The performance will be presented March 1, 2015 at 6pm on the Lisner Stage at George Washington University.

The North Carolina Symphony continues its 2014-15 Pops Series on Valentine's Weekend with performances of the romantic classic Casablanca in Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall on Friday, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 14, at 3 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. Max Steiner's Oscar-nominated score will be played live by the Symphony, while the film is projected on the giant screen. Constantine Kitsopoulos will conduct.

Northern Ireland Opera returns to the Grand Opera House with a new production of Richard Strauss' notorious opera, Salome. They have decided on a last minute change to include a nude scene, which has sparked much controversy. Those who already purchased tickets were invited to contact the company if they wanted more information.

Anna Netrebko has agreed to sing with the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in the concert this Sunday afternoon, February 8, replacing Elna Garana, who has withdrawn due to illness

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 02/04/2015 – The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Edo de Waart present de Waart Conducts Strauss on February 27-28, 2015 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. The performances feature Strauss's Metamorphosenfor 23 Solo Strings, Oboe Concerto in D major, and Don Quixote, Op. 35. Featured soloists include the MSO's Principal Oboe Katherine Young Steele, Principal Cello Susan Babini, and Principal Viola Robert Levine.

Mark Bebbington has a knack for finding and bringing to the spotlight either lost or forgotten pieces by important musical personalities - having already premiered (and recorded) the Vaughan Williams Fantasy For Piano and Orchestra, a complete John Ireland CD cycle and the piano music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tadesco. Most recently he opened the American Symphony Orchestra's Carnegie Hall season with Richard Strauss's little-known left-had piano concerto, Parergon. That's in addition to all the expected Rach 2's and Griegs and Schumanns. But his latest discovery should hold particular fascination, especially for Londoners.

Daniele Gatti conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in a Brahms symphony cycle and the composer's Ein deutsches Requiem over three concerts, Friday, February 27 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, February 28 at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, March 1 at 2:00 p.m. in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra presents Tchaikovsky & Liszt this weekend, January 30-31, 2015 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Led by guest conductor James Feddeck, the performances feature Sibelius's “Valse Triste” fromKuolema, Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto with Principal Clarinet Todd Levy, Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet Overture, and Liszt's Les Préludes.

Soprano Michelle Bradley and pianist Michael Gaertner, winners of the 2014 Music Academy of the West Marilyn Horne Song Competition, will perform a program of lieder, spirituals, and other works by Beethoven, Strauss, Duparc, Faure, Poulenc, Bachelet, and H.T. Burleigh in recital appearances this May in Santa Barbara, Dallas, and New York City.