MusicaNova Orchestra Celebrates 20th Season Of Rare Classical Music Gems

Celebrating 20 years of presenting surprising works of classical music that have either been lost, unjustly neglected or rarely heard, as well as new works from young composers of today, MusicaNova Orchestra announces its 2022-23 Season.

The anniversary year will include guest artists violinist Christiano Rodrigues for Schumann's Violin Concerto, and former host of NPR's Performance Today Martin Goldsmith as he shares his film, Winter's Journey, centered around the Jewish orchestra of 1930s Germany followed by a performance of The Inextinguishable Symphony, which was the last piece the Jewish Kulturbund rehearsed.

Concerts will be held at the Musical Instrument Museum and Scottsdale Performing Arts Center, visit musicanovaaz.org for tickets and full schedule.

2022-23 MusicaNova Season

Mendelssohn, Mahler, Arnell, Carter: The 20th Season Celebration

October 30 at 7 pm

Musical Instrument Museum

4725 E. Mayo Blvd.

Tickets: $33.50/$38.50

MusicaNova Orchestra opens its 20th season with a program that celebrates its origins and encapsulates its mission of playing new, unjustly neglected, and familiar music. The new comes from up-and-coming African American composer Jessica Carter. The unjustly neglected includes Judith Bailey and Richard Arnell, whose Fourth Symphony, recorded by the orchestra in 2005, gets its first live MusicaNova performance. The familiar, here coming from Mahler and Mendelssohn, were part of the orchestra's debut concert, which celebrated works that were banned by the Nazis.

Felix Mendelssohn, Overture from A Midsummer Night's Dream

Jessica Carter, Shadows

Judith Bailey, Trencrom, op. 16

Gustav Mahler, Adagietto from Symphony no. 5

Richard Arnell, Symphony no. 4

The Schumann Legacy

December 4 at 2 pm

Musical Instrument Museum

4725 E. Mayo Blvd.

Tickets: $33.50/$38.50

Robert Schumann was tortured through most of his life by mental illness, yet created some of the world's most treasured masterpieces. Popular former MNO concertmaster Christiano Rodrigues is the soloist on Robert Schumann's virtuosic Violin Concerto, which was hidden away for nearly a century after the composer's death. Also featured: Maestro Warren Cohen conducting Konzertstucke from the piano.

Konzertstucke, Op. 92

Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52

Violin Concerto

Winter Journey and The Inextinguishable Symphony (Film, Concert & Discussion)

January 22 at 6 pm

Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts

7380 E. 2nd St.

Tickets: $18/$36/$54



Presented by MusicaNova Orchestra and the ASU Center for Jewish Studies

A powerful multimedia presentation opens with the movie Winter Journey, one man's story of love, music and resiliency in an all-Jewish orchestra amid the persecution of 1930s Germany. MusicaNova performs the last piece the Jewish orchestra rehearsed, Nielsen's Inextinguishable Symphony, and is joined by local choirs for Sibelius' magnificent Finlandia. The evening includes a Q&A with author Martin Goldsmith.

Contrasts for Strings: Barber, Farina, Cohen

March 5 at 2 pm

Musical Instrument Museum

4725 E. Mayo Blvd

Tickets $33.50/$38.50

A fascinating program takes the audience on a journey of discovery, demonstrating the versatility of the string orchestra. See how the conservative Purcell and the rules-breaker Farina take entirely different approaches. Marvel at how Barber and Andriessen start with the same mood and go in diametrically opposite directions. Hear how Telemann, Grieg and Graham Cohen bring the sounds of traditional cultures to a classical string orchestra with fascinating results.

Barber: Adagio for Strings

Andriessen: Symphony for Open Strings (excerpt)

Purcell: Chaconne in G minor

Farina: Capriccio Stravagante

Telemann: Mezzetin En Turc

Grieg: Norwegian Melody

· Cohen: Gamelan