SATURDAY, JANUARY 28 8:00 PM

Kaija Saariaho: Graal Théâtre for violin and orchestra
Giya Kancheli: Styx, for viola, choir and orchestra

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Jennifer Koh, violinist
Daniel Scholz, viola

Graal Théâtre (1997), an explosive violin concerto, with Jennifer Koh as the soloist, closed the concert. This 30-minute concerto combines visceral power and sheer beauty. Ms. Koh gave a stunning, high-energy account of the almost continuous solo line. – New York Times

The music (Styx) first transfixes, then scalds, and when consolation intervenes it feels multi-faceted and somehow palpably wise. – Gramophone

Winner of the Grammy Award and Musician of the Year Award (2008, Musical Americas), Kaija Saariaho has become one of “the few contemporary composers to achieve public acclaim as well as universal critical respect.” We are excited to present to you her monumental work Graal Théâtre for violin and orchestra, a raptly beautiful work that showcases the violin’s shimmering sound world of both transience and dramatic force. Also featured is Giya Kancheli’s most celebrated work Styx (scored for choir, viola and orchestra), a work of great spirituality filled with haunting aural images, varied colors and textures, sharp contrasts and shattering climaxes.

MASTERWORKS C: Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director Alexander Mickelthwate and guests on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

Single tickets are on sale now at the WSO Box Office, 949-3999 or online.

Sponsored by:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13   8:00 PM
SATURDAY, JANUARY 14   8:00 PM

Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, K. 297b
Schubert: Symphony No.9 in C major (The Great)

Andrew Grams, conductor
Patricia Evans, horn
Micah Heilbrunn, clarinet
Bede Hanley, oboe
Alexandra Eastley, bassoon

“Every detail of Ravel’s virtuoso orchestration (Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition) was brilliantly articulated, Grams wisely liberating the orchestra to play to its many strengths.” – Birmingham Post

A delightful Mozart concerto-times-four that gives you an opportunity to hear four of the WSO’s fabulous principal wind players in one of his most entertaining compositions! Mozart not only had an intimate knowledge of the unique sounds of each solo wind instrument, but also their special personalities. All will be revealed in this rarely-heard piece that is guaranteed to charm and please.

In this evening of great symphonic music, we continue with Schubert’s mighty Symphony No. 9 – a true orchestral masterpiece! Composed in the year of Schubert’s death and entitled The Great, the music is overwhelmingly energetic and eloquent by turn, with advanced orchestration and striking brass that anticipated the Romantic symphonic style that was to come. We welcome one of America’s most talented young conductors, Andrew Grams, for his WSO debut.

Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director James Manishen, Patricia Evans, Micah Heilbrunn, Bede Hanley and Alexandra Eastley  on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

DINNER & A SYMPHONY: Enjoy the return of Dinner & A Symphony with Bergmann’s on Lombard for our January 14 concert with German Cuisine, 3-course meal on the Piano Nobile at 5:30 pm. Dinner and concert start at $85!

Single tickets are on sale now at the WSO Box Office, 949-3999 or online.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11   8:00 PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12   8:00 PM
WSO-IN-BRANDON: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13   3:00 PM

Beethoven: Egmont: Overture
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Michael Kim, piano

(Michael Kim) “It was incredibly exciting and exhilarating, and beautifully balanced.” – The Herald, Glasgow

All-Beethoven means timeless masterpieces! Especially when you hear Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, its famous opening four notes signaling all that is thrilling and inspiring in classical symphonic music and humanity.

In Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, the soloist’s commanding role recalls the composer himself. Shaking his fist at the heavens while seeing the light of the human spirit, there is no more compelling way to enter the mind of his genius than in hearing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in the companion key of C minor.

Soloist Michael Kim is the recipient of a multitude of awards, including the grand prize of the Canadian Music Competition and the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Performers. He was also silver medallist at the Scottish International Competition in Glasgow, and a prize winner in the Leeds and Ivo Pogorelich International Piano Competitions.

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor

MASTERWORKS C: Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director Alexander Mickelthwate or guest conductors on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

Single tickets on sale now: WSO Box Office, 949-3999 or online.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13   8:00 PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14   8:00 PM

Andrew Balfour: Wa Wa Tey Wak (Northern Lights)
Lou Harrison: Concerto for Pipa with String Orchestra
Silvestre Revueltas: La noche de los Mayas

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Camerata Nova
Cory Campbell, vocalist
Wu Man, pipa
Odette Heyn-Projects
Bolero Dance Theatre

Concept and choreography: Odette Heyn-Penner
Traditional choreography: Pedro Aurelio

“One of the rare musicians who has changed the history of the instrument she plays, the pipa.” – Los Angeles Times

Worlds meet and cross paths in this fascinating program featuring one of the world’s leading advocates of her instrument. Renowned internationally as a virtuosic pipa (Chinese lute) performer, Wu Man has also carved out a career creating and collaborating on projects that give this ancient Chinese instrument a new role in today’s music world, not only introducing the instrument to new audiences, but greatly enhancing and growing the core repertoire.

Wu Man has performed as a soloist with many of the world’s major orchestras and has recorded for various labels, including two recordings with the Silk Road Ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma for Sony Classical. Her recording Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago is a work on our program that features her Grammy-nominated performance of Lou Harrison’s Pipa Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Rounding out our program is Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas who painted images in sound like no other among his country’s composers. We feature his hypnotic film score La noche de los Mayas, complete with special choreography and performed by the Bolero Dance Theatre and Odette Heyn-Projects.

MASTERWORKS: Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director Alexander Mickelthwate, Wu Man & Andrew Balfour on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

Subscriptions on sale now via WSO Box Office & online; Single tickets on sale via WSO Box Office only: 949-3999.

PLEASE NOTE THE ORIGINAL DATE OF THIS CONCERT CHANGED FROM SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15 TO THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE DATE CHANGE, PLEASE CALL THE WSO BOX OFFICE AT 949-3999.

March 18  8:00 pm
March 19 8:00 pm

“A practically superhuman keyboard technique with artistic eloquence that is second to none.”
- San Francisco Chronicle

We welcome Orli Shaham in her WSO debut. Shaham has established an impressive international reputation as one of today’s most gifted pianists. Hailed by critics on four continents, Ms. Shaham is in demand for her prodigious skills and admired for her interpretations of both standard and modern repertoire.

Much-loved composer Rachmaninov carried on the great symphonic Russian tradition after Tchaikovsky. Including some of Rachmaninov’s lushest melodies, Symphonic Dances is his last completed work.

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Orli Shaham, piano

Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kije: Suite
Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Op.43
Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances

Pre-concert chat: Hosted by Maestro Mickelthwate on the Piano Nobile at 7:15 pm

For more info, click here.

SATURDAY, MARCH 3   8:00 PM

Schumann: Symphony No. 1 (Spring)
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano

“The Canadian pianist (Jon Kimura Parker) has the technical chops… and he also has the strength and suppleness of line, variety of touch and generosity of feeling to make its many tunes take wing.” – Chicago Tribune

Legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz, who played and recorded Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with his father-in-law conductor Arturo Toscanini, called it `the greatest music ever written for piano.’ Epic in scope, a symphony with solo, supremely dramatic yet hauntingly beautiful…this concerto ranks among the titans of its realm, and we are honoured to have the exciting Canadian pianist Jon Kimura Parker to perform it.

Composer Robert Schumann is a natural pairing with Brahms for it was Schumann who became one of the most influential people in Brahms’s life. Schumann’s ‘Spring’ Symphony is an exuberant work the composer started just after marrying his famous soul-mate Clara Wieck, composing it in a “state of bliss” as he said. Youthful joie de vivre pervades this supremely happy creation.

MASTERWORKS C: Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director Alexander Mickelthwate or guest conductors on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

Subscriptions on sale now via WSO Box Office & online; Single tickets on sale via WSO Box Office only: 949-3999.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28   8:00 PM

Kaija Saariaho: Graal Théâtre for violin and orchestra
Giya Kancheli: Styx, for viola, choir and orchestra

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Jennifer Koh, violinist
Daniel Scholz, viola

Graal Théâtre (1997), an explosive violin concerto, with Jennifer Koh as the soloist, closed the concert. This 30-minute concerto combines visceral power and sheer beauty. Ms. Koh gave a stunning, high-energy account of the almost continuous solo line. – New York Times

The music (Styx) first transfixes, then scalds, and when consolation intervenes it feels multi-faceted and somehow palpably wise. – Gramophone

Winner of the Grammy Award and Musician of the Year Award (2008, Musical Americas), Kaija Saariaho has become one of “the few contemporary composers to achieve public acclaim as well as universal critical respect.” We are excited to present to you her monumental work Graal Théâtre for violin and orchestra, a raptly beautiful work that showcases the violin’s shimmering sound world of both transience and dramatic force. Also featured is Giya Kancheli’s most celebrated work Styx (scored for choir, viola and orchestra), a work of great spirituality filled with haunting aural images, varied colors and textures, sharp contrasts and shattering climaxes.

MASTERWORKS C: Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director Alexander Mickelthwate and guests on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

Single tickets are on sale now at the WSO Box Office, 949-3999 or online.

Sponsored by:

SATURDAY, JANUARY 14   8:00 PM

Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, K. 297b
Schubert: Symphony No.9 in C major (The Great)

Andrew Grams, conductor
Patricia Evans, horn
Micah Heilbrunn, clarinet
Bede Hanley, oboe
Alexandra Eastley, bassoon

“Every detail of Ravel’s virtuoso orchestration (Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition) was brilliantly articulated, Grams wisely liberating the orchestra to play to its many strengths.” – Birmingham Post

A delightful Mozart concerto-times-four that gives you an opportunity to hear four of the WSO’s fabulous principal wind players in one of his most entertaining compositions! Mozart not only had an intimate knowledge of the unique sounds of each solo wind instrument, but also their special personalities. All will be revealed in this rarely-heard piece that is guaranteed to charm and please.

In this evening of great symphonic music, we continue with Schubert’s mighty Symphony No. 9 – a true orchestral masterpiece! Composed in the year of Schubert’s death and entitled The Great, the music is overwhelmingly energetic and eloquent by turn, with advanced orchestration and striking brass that anticipated the Romantic symphonic style that was to come. We welcome one of America’s most talented young conductors, Andrew Grams, for his WSO debut.

Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director James Manishen, Patricia Evans, Micah Heilbrunn, Bede Hanley and Alexandra Eastley  on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

DINNER & A SYMPHONY: Enjoy the return of Dinner & A Symphony with Bergmann’s on Lombard for our January 14 concert with German Cuisine, 3-course meal on the Piano Nobile at 5:30 pm. Dinner and concert start at $85!

Single tickets are on sale now at the WSO Box Office, 949-3999 or online.

SATURDAY, APRIL 7   8:00 PM

Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs
Brahms: A German Requiem

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Brett Polegato, baritone
Betty Waynne Allison, soprano
Mennonite Festival Chorus; Rudy Schellenberg & William Baerg, co-directors

“In Vaughan Williams’s ecstatic Five Mystical Songs, it was Polegato’s turn to show his expressive stuff. The score abounds in lyrical and dramatic statements, many influenced by British folk traditions, and Polegato applied his suave baritone vibrantly to the songs’ emotional needs.” – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

It was A German Requiem that first won international success for Brahms. Composed in tribute to his late mother, it is a work primarily intended to reconcile the living to their loss, grandly set through incandescent writing that never wavers from its universal purpose of affirming the beauty of life through music.

Composed at the time of his famous Sea Symphony, Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs begin with an evocation of Easter and continue with heartfelt and masterly written tribute to faith throughout the remaining four songs. The work is beautifully set for baritone, chorus and orchestra, and an ideal pairing on this inspiring program.

MASTERWORKS C: Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director Alexander Mickelthwate or guest conductors on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

Single tickets are on sale now at the WSO Box Office, 949-3999 or online.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12   8:00 PM

Beethoven: Egmont: Overture
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Michael Kim, piano

(Michael Kim) “It was incredibly exciting and exhilarating, and beautifully balanced.” – The Herald, Glasgow

All-Beethoven means timeless masterpieces! Especially when you hear Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, its famous opening four notes signaling all that is thrilling and inspiring in classical symphonic music and humanity.

In Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, the soloist’s commanding role recalls the composer himself. Shaking his fist at the heavens while seeing the light of the human spirit, there is no more compelling way to enter the mind of his genius than in hearing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in the companion key of C minor.

Soloist Michael Kim is the recipient of a multitude of awards, including the grand prize of the Canadian Music Competition and the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Performers. He was also silver medallist at the Scottish International Competition in Glasgow, and a prize winner in the Leeds and Ivo Pogorelich International Piano Competitions.

MASTERWORKS C: Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director Alexander Mickelthwate or guest conductors on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

Single tickets on sale now: WSO Box Office, 949-3999 or online.