South Dakota Symphony Announces 2021-22 Centennial Season

Today the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra announced details of its 2021-22 season, marking 100 years of performances. The new season will showcase local artists and sounds including a solo performance by South Dakota violinist Maya Anjali Buchanan, a world premiere from South Dakota composer Stephen Yarbrough, and a new work inspired by South Dakota from Pulitzer and Grammy Award winner John Luther Adams.

"It is an honor to be associated with an organization that has served its community for 100 years," said South Dakota Symphony Orchestra Music Director Delta David Gier. "Our entire Centennial Season is a celebration of South Dakota. We are eager to welcome Maya Anjali Buchanan, who grew up in the Black Hills and is on her way to stardom, to enjoy new music from our longtime friend Stephen Yarbrough, and to hear how John Luther Adams captures the sounds of South Dakota. I am especially excited about bringing all of the music written for the Lakota Music Project to the Washington Pavilion's Mary V. Sommervold stage for the first time."

The Lakota Music Project is the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra's flagship engagement program, designed to address a history of racial tension, build bridges between whites and Native Americans, and create an environment of openness through the sharing of music. These events typically take place in Native American communities, but in 2019 the performers traveled to Washington, DC to appear in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and Washington National Cathedral. This October, all of the music composed specifically for the Lakota Music Project will be heard as part of an SDSO concert season in the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls for the first time.

The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra's Centennial Season will also feature great symphonies of Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky; Vivaldi's celebration of renewal, the Four Seasons; J.S. Bach's glorious St. Matthew Passion; blockbuster scores by John Williams, and Handel's "Messiah."

"David really outdid himself in programming the Centennial Season," said South Dakota Symphony Orchestra Executive Director Jennifer Teisinger. "He is such a wonderful ambassador for our organization, and really for the arts in South Dakota. This Centennial Season truly honors the 100-year commitment between the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and its community."

The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra will also undertake its first ever commercial recording project during the 2021-22 season. Music of the Lakota Music Project and the new work by John Luther Adams will be recorded for future release.

Subscription packages for the new season are on sale now through the Washington Pavilion Box Office at (605) 367-6300 open (9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday and 11:30am - 5:00pm Saturday and Sunday). A variety of options are available, including the Imperial package which features a discount equivalent to three free concerts.