Music Worcester Reveals 165th Season With 20 Performances Scheduled

 Celebrating its 165th season of presenting world class performing arts to Central Massachusetts, Music Worcester's genre-spanning schedule features more than 20 different events, from classical works old and new, to jazz, Celtic, spiritual, and more.   Subscription packages for 3 or more events, along with single tickets, are on sale at musicworcester.org.

Music Worcester's Executive Director Adrien Finlay promises “an incredibly exciting, wide-ranging roster of talent for the 2023-24 season, one that welcomes acclaimed artists making their Worcester debuts, as well as others returning to delight our audiences as beloved friends.”   

Music Worcester's 2023 Artist-in-Residence, violinist Vijay Gupta, kicks-off the season September 23rd in concert with his Darshan Trio and dancer Yamini Kalluri, continuing his residency with performances and collaborations with local non-profits established earlier in the year.  He returns November 10th with a performance of composer Reena Esmail's cantata This Love Between Us in a concert collaboration between Gupta, The Worcester Chorus, CONCORA, and the Kuchipudi-inspired Kritya Dance Ensemble. 

“We're excited to have one of the most sought-after conductors in the world, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, (pictured left) make his first appearance with us leading his Montreal-based Orchestre Métropolitain,” said Finlay. “We're also looking forward to the debuts of a cappella sensation Voces8, Gospel choir American Spiritual Ensemble, soprano Jeanine De Bique, and mandolin master, vocalist, and  composer Chris Thile, who joins The Knights for a concert on October 27th.” 

 

Among the musicians familiar to Music Worster audiences this season are Canada's reigning Celtic couple Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy on March 9th, comedic ensemble Mnozil Brass (pictured left) on March 1st, and guitarist Frank Vignola who performs May 18th with violinist Tessa Lark, also making her Music Worcester debut.

“Our own Worcester Chorus continues, as it has for so many decades, to serve as an integral part of Music Worcester, performing five different programs on the schedule,” said Finlay.  “In addition to November's concert with Vijay Gupta, the Chorus will sing the annual Messiah   December 2nd; The Worcester Chorus Women's Ensemble presents their Holiday Concert December 17th,  on February 25th's Voices of Eternal Light features the Chorus with The Women's Ensemble, and the Chorus is back in full for Bach's stirring Mass in B-Minor May 5th.”

The National Symphony Orchestra Ukraine which last appeared in Worcester during the 2019-20 season, returns to perform February 9th.  Music Worcester is  donating all ticketing proceeds from this concert to humanitarian relief causes supporting basic needs on the ground in Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees worldwide, including the World Central Kitchen and the United Nations Refugee Agency. 

As a bridge to the 2023-24 season, Summer@MW presents a 3 concert series that brings  bluegrass master Sam Bush to the Hanover Theatre on Thursday June 9th,  jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant to the BrickBox Theatre at JMAC July 21; and jazz guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli at Mechanics Hall July 22nd. 

About Music Worcester

Music Worcester, Inc., originally known as the Worcester County Music Association, for years ran the Worcester Music Festival. Current programs reflect the merger in the mid-1990s of the Festival with the International Artists Series and the MA Jazz Festival. Performances regularly include visiting orchestras and guest soloists, chamber music ensembles and ballet companies, world music and jazz groups, and choral masterworks.  Multiple educational programs currently serve youth and families of greater Worcester: masterclasses by visiting artists, Tickets to Opportunity, Festival Singers, in-schools residencies, and the Artist-in-Residency program currently led by violinist Vijay Gupta. Integral to Music Worcester's annual operations, The Worcester Chorus has been part of the organization since the very first concert season in 1858.

The 2023-2024 Season 

Saturday, 9/23/2023 at 8PM Tuckerman Hall  
Darshan Trio: See Yourself Vijay Gupta, violin; Dominic Cheli, piano; & Yoshika Masuda, cello 
Exploring pairings of composers: Esmail & Mendelssohn, Pärt & Beethoven, Couperin & Ravel. 

Sunday, 10/15/2023 at 4PM St. John's High School 
Gavilán Brothers Documentary Viewing & Recital Aldo López-Gavilán, violin & Ilmar Gavilán, piano 
Recital and showing of the 2020 film Los Hermanos, detailing the brothers' start in Cuba to their international careers. 

Sunday, 10/22/2023 at 4PM  BrickBox Theater at JMAC 
Avi Avital, mandolin & Hanzhi Wang, accordion Kreisler Praeludium and Allegro, Mozart Sonata No. 21, De Falla Danse Espagnole No. 1,  Villa-Lobos Bachiana Brasilieras No. 5, Saint-Saens Intro/Rondo Capriccioso. 

Friday, 10/27/2023 at 8PM Mechanics Hall  
The Knights Orchestra Chris Thile, mandolin & vocals Caroline Shaw Is a Rose: And So, Thile New Work for Mandolin & Orch, Dvorak Quartet No. 12, "American,” Bach Double Violin Concerto, Chris Thile & Colin Jacobsen, soloists. 

Friday, 11/3/2023 at 8PM  Mechanics Hall 
Lucerne Festival Orchestra Midori, violin Daniel Dodds, conductor Honegger  Pastorale d/été, Schumann Violin Concerto, Beethoven Romance in F Major, Beethoven Symphony No. 4.

Friday, 11/10/2023 at 8PM Mechanics Hall 
This Love Between Us Worcester Chorus & CONCORA Chris Shepard, Artistic Director,  Vijay Gupta, violin, Kritya Dance Ensemble. Reena Esmail This Love Between Us, Bach Sinfonia in D & Magnificat.   

Saturday, 12/2/2023 at 8PM Mechanics Hall  
Handel Messiah Worcester Chorus Chris Shepard, Artistic Director. Saturday, 12/2/2023 at 8PM Mechanics Hall

Sunday, 12/17/2023 at 4PM Trinity Lutheran Church 
Holiday Concert Worceseter Chorus Women's Ensemble Mark Mummert, Artistic Director 

Wednesday, 1/24/2024 at 7:30PM  BrickBox Theater at JMAC 
Tchaikovsky, Paganini, & Gershwin  Andrew Armstrong, piano; Kevin Zhu violin, Jan Vogler cello.  Bach Cello Suite No. 1, Paganini Caprices for Violin, Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue, Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A Minor. 

Friday, 2/9/2024 at 8PM Mechanics Hall 
National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine Volodymyr Sirenko, conductor Volodymyr Vynnytsky, piano.  Berezovsky Ukrainian Symphony, Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No 2, Dvorak Symphony No 8 

 

Saturday, 2/10/2024 at 8PM Mechanics Hall  
Voces8 A cappella sensation and 2023 Grammy-nominated ensemble.

 

Friday, 2/23/2024 at 8PM Curtis Performance Hall, Assumption College
Jeanine De Bique, Soprano & Warren Jones, piano. Program to feature songs/lieder by Benjamin Britten, Hugo Wolf, H.T. Burleigh, & others, as well as Caribbean folk songs. 

Sunday, 2/25/2024 at 4PM  First Baptist Church
Voices of Eternal Light The Worcester Chorus & Worcester Chorus Women's Ensemble  Haugen Anne Frank: A Living Voice, Lauridsen Lux Aeterna. 

Friday, 3/1/2024 at 8PM Mechanics Hall  
Mnozil Brass 

Sunday, 3/3/2024 at Mechanics Hall
Orchestre Métropolitain Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor Tony Siqi Yun, piano  
Cris Derksen new commission, Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, Sibelius Symphony No. 2 in D Major. 

Saturday, 3/9/2024 at 8PM  The Hanover Theatre  
Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy 

Saturday, 4/6/2024 at 8:00PM Curtis Performance Hall, Assumption College 
American Spiritual Ensemble 

Sunday, 5/5/2024 at 4PM Mechanics Hall 
Bach B Minor Mass The Worcester Chorus Chris Shepard, Artistic Director Orchestra of Emmanuel Music 

Thursday, 5/9/2024 at 7:30PM Mechanics Hall 
Marc-Andre Hamelin Ives Second Piano Sonata "Concord," Schumann "Forest Scenes", Ravel Gaspard de la nuit 

Friday, 5/18/2024 at 8PM Tuckerman Hall
Tessa Lark, violin/fiddle & Frank Vignola, guitar Classical meets jazz.