Renee Fleming to Open San Antonio Symphony's 75th Anniversary Season, 9/20

On September 20, Maestro Sebastian Lang-Lessing and four-time Grammy® winner Renée Fleming will open the San Antonio Symphony's 75th Anniversary season at The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Fleming wowed the crowds at this year's Super Bowl with her extraordinary rendition of the "The Star-Spangled Banner." She will perform Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, and music from Canteloube and Delibes, in a concert complemented by sparkling works for orchestra by Strauss and Ravel. The exquisite beauty of Renée Fleming's singing of this glorious music will radiate throughout the hall at the new Tobin Center.

This performance is sponsored by the Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts.

"It is an honor, in my fifth season, to celebrate the world-class San Antonio Symphony's 75th season," said San Antonio Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing. "This season's performances at the Tobin Center, with its outstanding acoustics, 'tuned' to fit the scope and diversity of our orchestras performances, will open up a new world of sound for San Antonio audiences."

Classics Concerts
The 2014-2015 San Antonio Symphony Valero Classics Series is a series of 14 concerts which feature masterpieces by beloved composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and many more.

In addition to the Symphony's own outstanding musicians and the San Antonio Mastersingers, a diverse line up of soloists will appear throughout the season. They include pianists Kirill Gerstein, Michel Dalberto, Alexander Gavrylyuk and Jon Kimura Parker; violinists Daniel Hope and Jennifer Koh; cellist Julie Albers; percussionist Evelyn Glennie; classical guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas, and our own concertmaster, Eric Gratz. The 2015 winter festival will be dedicated to the works of Richard Strauss. See attached schedule with more information on the major works to be performed this season.

The Symphony will also perform four Sunday afternoon classical concerts at the Tobin Center
H-E-B Performance Hall. These concerts will feature Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, Bernstein's West Side Story, Stravinsky's Petrushka and Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez.

New this year, for each concert, the San Antonio Symphony has commissioned a guest composer to write an opening piece in celebration of the Symphony's 75th anniversary and the inaugural season at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. These internationally recognized composers will include Arturo Márquez, Aaron Jay Kernis, Pedro Halffter, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Michael Daugherty and Doug Balliett, among others.

In keeping with the San Antonio Symphony's long-standing partnership with the Majestic Theatre, the Symphony will introduce a new collaboration with a two-part movie concert series. This new concert series will take the movie-watching experience to another level by featuring a full-length movie, "Star Trek Into Darkness," and a movie celebration of classic Looney Tunes with "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II." The musical scores of both movies will be accompanied live by the San Antonio Symphony.

"We are excited about preserving our relationship with the Majestic Theatre as we continue to bring great performances to our audiences," said David Gross, San Antonio Symphony President.

POPS Series
The 2014-2015 San Antonio Symphony H-E-B Pops Series will be six varied and wonderful programs. The concerts will be fun-filled evenings of popular favorites performed at The Tobin Center. From composer John Williams's famous Hollywood works such as "Star Wars" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to show-stopping swing music by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and ABBA's best-selling show band Arrival from Sweden, the Symphony will bring high-energy programs to the orchestral stage.

The spectacular Tobin Center will also be host to the magic of Cirque, with Cirque de la Symphonie performances of high-flying aerialists, daredevil cyclists, jugglers, and more, performing incredible acrobatic feats of wonder-all choreographed to classical music. Plus, audiences can enjoy the best of seasonal music with Fiesta Pops, featuring Mariachi Campanas de America, and Holiday Pops with nostalgic favorites.

The Symphony will also perform four Sunday afternoon Pops concerts at the Tobin Center
H-E-B Performance Hall: Holiday Pops, The Music of ABBA, Fiesta Pops and Cirque de la Symphonie.

It's pops entertainment at its best! See attached schedule with more information on these Pops performances.

Nutcracker/Baroque Concerts
Beginning Thanksgiving weekend and running through December 7, the San Antonio Symphony joins Ballet San Antonio for 11 great performances of "The Nutcracker," an annual tradition in San Antonio.

The season would not be complete without delightful Baroque music for chamber orchestra, conducted by Associate Conductor Akiko Fujimoto. "The Enchanted Forest" and "The Brandenburg Concertos" are featured at Sunday evening San Fernando Cathedral concerts which are 70-minutes long with no intermission, and begin at 7:00 p.m. A seasonal favorite, "Handel's Messiah," will round out the Baroque series at the Majestic Theatre for a Thursday night performance.

Educational/Family/DISCOVER Concerts
The Symphony will continue to offer an array of educational, Family and DISCOVER Concerts next season led by Sebastian Lang-Lessing and Akiko Fujimoto. Fujimoto conducts over 40 concerts annually including Classical, Baroque, ballet, Pops, and educational concerts. She is also the host of the pre-concert Classical Conversations for patrons, prior to Classics series concerts.

Lang-Lessing will conduct two innovative Sunday afternoon DISCOVER concerts at the Tobin Center's H-E-B Performance Hall. Each concert focuses on a single major work, with musical examples and an introduction given by the Maestro, as well as video close-ups of the orchestra projected on a screen above the stage.

The award-winning Young People's Concert (YPC) Series, which is geared towards students in grades 3 to 5, will be conducted by Akiko Fujimoto and will be held in the H-E-B Performance Hall. New this year, YPC performances are completely FREE to public, private, charter and home school groups. The program, which aims to inspire, educate, and entertain young people through the performance of live symphonic music, will also consist of four weeks of twenty-three school-day performances that will be attended by over 30,000 local students.

Age-appropriate Family Series Concerts, held at Laurie Auditorium and led by Fujimoto, are preceded by an hour of Pre-Concert Activities for Kids ages 4 to 11, and include an Instrument Petting Zoo led by Symphony musicians, as well as musical crafts and games.

Single tickets for the Renée Fleming performance on September 20 are on sale now! Single tickets for our remaining 2014-2015 performances go on sale to the public on September 22 at 10 a.m. and can purchased by calling the Tobin Center box office at (210) 223-8624 or online at tobincenter.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.