Dallas Symphony Orchestra Announces 2023/24 Season

 
DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES
2023/24 SEASON

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS CLASSICAL SEASON FEATURES A VARIETY OF WORKS, INCLUDING A LOOK AT AMERICAN MUSICAL HISTORY AND VIEWPOINTS

POPS SERIES, PRESENTED BY CAPITAL ONE, PRESENTS MOVIES-IN-CONCERT AND COUNTRY, JAZZ, BLUES AND HOLIDAY FAVORITES

SEASON INCLUDES FIVE WORLD PREMIERES AND ELEVEN DSO FIRST PERFORMANCES

MAY 2024 LAUNCHES THE DSO’S RING CYCLE PERFORMANCES WITH
DAS RHEINGOLD AND DIE WALKÜRE

DOWNLOAD PHOTOS AND ASSETS HERE

VIEW A CALENDAR OF THE FULL SEASON

DALLAS, TEXAS (March 10, 2023) – Dallas Symphony Orchestra Music Director Fabio Luisi (Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn Music Directorship), Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik (Dot & Paul Mason Podium) and Ross Perot President & CEO Kim Noltemy today announced the concerts and special programs for the 2023/24 Season. Subscriptions for the season go on sale March 10, 2023.

“We are thrilled to share this upcoming season of programming with our subscribers and patrons,” said Noltemy. “These programs represent a stunning range of genres and combine beloved favorites, unique repertoire and bold new voices. We know that there is something for everyone, and we look forward to welcoming you to the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.”
 
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS CLASSICAL SERIES
The Texas Instruments Classical Series will mark the fourth year of Fabio Luisi’s tenure as Music Director. “Since the beginning of my tenure, the orchestra and I have worked together to create a distinctive sound. We have learned to listen to each other to find the way we want to present ourselves as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra,” said Luisi. “Through the range of works – old and new, American and from around the world – I hope you will enjoy and discover how the sounds of the orchestra are relevant and vital to our current time.”
 
Guest Artists
The DSO will welcome back to Dallas some of the top artists working today, including Emanuel Ax, Eric Owens, Rudolf Buchbinder, Matthias Goerne, Karen Slack, Jan Lisiecki, Kelley O’Connor and Maxim Vengerov. Many celebrated soloists will make their DSO debuts in the 2023/24 season, including Jeremy Denk (piano), Maximilian Hornung (cello), Alexi Kenney (violin), Isabel Leonard (soprano), Anthony McGill (clarinet), Golda Schultz (soprano), Inbal Segev (cello) and Tine Thing Helseth (trumpet).

Conductors making their DSO debuts include Tabita Berglund, Marie Jacquot, Dmitry Matvienko, Daniele Rustioni and Yutaka Sado. Distinguished conductors returning to the DSO include Gustavo Gimeno, Kirill Karabits, Peter Oundjian, Vasily Petrenko, Donald Runnicles, Krzysztof Urbański, Mark Wigglesworth and Simone Young.

DSO principal players will also appear as soloists. This season Alexander Kerr (Concertmaster, Michael L. Rosenberg Chair), Nathan Olson (Co-Concertmaster, Fanchon & Howard Hallam Chair) and David Buck (Principal Flute, Joy & Ronald Mankoff Chair) will all perform concertos with the orchestra.

Recording
“The Dallas Symphony has a rich recorded history, and it was a goal of mine to continue that legacy during my tenure,” said Luisi. “The DSO has released our first recordings together – Brahms Symphonies No. 1 & 2 – and we will continue that cycle with the release of the Third and Fourth Symphonies this fall. In addition, we will record a program in this upcoming season for album release.”

The Lay Family Organ at the Meyerson Symphony Center is an incredible and impressive instrument, an organ that is respected around the world. Resident Organist Bradley Hunter Welch (Lay Family Chair) will be the soloist for Saint-Saëns’s “Organ” Symphony, which will be performed and recorded on February 22-25, 2024. This album will join the 1994 DSO recording of the Saint-Saëns – made to celebrate what was then only a three-year old instrument in the five-year old Meyerson – with Music Director Eduardo Mata and Jean Guillou as soloist.

Premieres
The DSO will present five world premieres during the 2023/24 Season by composers Jessie Montgomery (October 12, 14 & 15, 2023), Victoria Vita Polevá (November 9, 11 & 12, 2023), Xi Wang (February 22-25, 2024), Anna Clyne (March 28-30, 2024) and Andrea Basevi (May 23, 24 & 26, 2024). In addition, the DSO will perform eleven works that are new to the Meyerson stage. Adolphus Hailstork’s JFK: The Last Speech is a DSO co-commission that will make its Dallas debut one month before the 60th anniversary of the death of John F. Kennedy. The work features text from Kennedy’s speech at Amherst College in October 1963 lauding American poet Robert Frost who had recently passed away. Other pieces to be performed for the first time by the DSO include Liszt’s A Faust Symphony, George Antheil’s A Jazz Symphony, David Chesky’s American Bluegrass, Yasushi Akutagawa’s Tryptique, Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals, Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten and Alfredo Casella’s Symphony No. 2.

Highlights and Special Events

  • Exploration of American Music One of Luisi’s goals as music director is to turn a spotlight on American composers and American musical styles. He will make his debut on the Pops series with music by Gershwin and Styne alongside pieces from William Dawson and James P. Johnson, a frequent collaborator of Bessie Smith (September 22-24, 2023). During the Classical series, the legacy of Benny Goodman will be heard in Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, paired with an overture by William Schuman, the winner of the first Pulitzer Prize in music and legendary educator (September 28 & October 1, 2023).
  • Dallas Symphony Orchestra Gala Music Director Fabio Luisi and the DSO will welcome guests Emanuel Ax, piano; Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano and the Dallas Symphony Children’s Chorus for an evening of music and celebration. The performance will feature Leonard’s stunning portrayal of Carmen, Ax’s unsurpassed virtuosity of Chopin and the whirlwind of sound in Ravel’s La Valse. The festivities on September 30, 2023, will include a seated dinner, the rousing concert and a fabulous after-party. This once-a-season event raises funds for the DSO’s education and outreach programs. Kim and Greg Hext will chair and lead the planning and fundraising for this year’s signature benefit event. Concert and After-Party tickets, which do not include the pre-concert reception or dinner, are available April 18, 2023. Subscribers may add Gala to their ticket package starting on March 10, 2023. Full-evening Gala tickets start at $1,250 each and include the pre-concert reception, seated dinner, premium concert hall seating and the After-Party. For information about full Gala tickets, table purchases and Gala sponsorships, contact Alex Small at 214.871.4077 or a.small@dalsym.com.
  • Día De Los Muertos The DSO will present its annual Day of the Dead concert, celebrating our lost loved ones with a colorful affirmation of life on October 31, 2023. The performance will feature traditional Latin American music and culture, dazzling guest artists, colorful festivities, decorated ofrendas and fun-filled events for the whole family.
  • Ukrainian composers Anna Korsun and Victoria Vita Polevá As a prelude to the fifth Annual Women in Classical Music Symposium, the DSO will perform works by two Ukrainian women composers. Currently the composer-in-residence with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Anna Korsun features traditional orchestral instruments paired with unconventional objects and electronic sounds in her works. The Bournemouth Symphony premiered Terricone, the work programmed on this concert, in January 2023. Victoria Vita Polevá’s work has been described as “sacred minimalist” for her use of spiritual themes and musical simplicity. The DSO will present the world premiere of her Cello Concerto. Ukrainian conductor Kirill Karabits will lead the DSO in these performances (November 9-12, 2023).
  • The Book with Seven Seals The DSO will perform Franz Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals on March 1-3, 2024. Schmidt wrote four symphonies, two operas and works for piano and organ, but his monumental achievement is the oratorio The Book with Seven Seals. It is an astounding and thrilling work for solo singers, chorus, organ and orchestra. The performance will commemorate the 150th anniversary of Schmidt’s birth.
  • Daniil Trifonov Recital Star pianist Daniil Trifonov visits Dallas on his upcoming solo tour bringing Rameau, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Beethoven’s mighty “Hammerklavier” to the Meyerson stage on March 18, 2024.
  • Erich Ziegler: Ludmilla Within the walls of the Westerbork prison camp in the Netherlands during World War II, a robust cultural life was born. In 1943, comedian Max Ehrlich was sent to the camp, and he immediately asked, and was granted, permission to form a theatre troupe. In the bleakest of locations, this group presented plays, cabarets and revues to the prisoners and guards. The final work was a parody opera, Ludmilla – chilling, yet comical, and a testament to art’s power in the darkest corners of history. The DSO will perform the work on March 21, 2024.
  • Mahler Symphony No. 5 Though Luisi conducted the special concert of Mahler Symphony No. 1 with the musicians of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and DSO in 2021, this performance will mark the first time that he will present one of Mahler’s full symphonies with the DSO alone (March 28-30, 2024).
  • Brahms Requiem Fabio Luisi will lead the DSO, the Dallas Symphony Chorus and soloists in Brahms’s A German Requiem (April 4-6, 2024). Luisi’s work with vocal music always draws crowds and is spine-tingling.

 
THE RING CYCLE
Beginning in May 2024, the DSO, under the direction of Luisi, will present an opera-in-concert version of Richard Wagner’s complete Der Ring des Nibelungen with internationally renowned singers. The Dallas Symphony is the first US orchestra to perform a full Ring cycle in concert in recent history. This project is generously supported by Mercedes T. Bass, Joanne Bober, Diane and Hal Brierley, Susan and Mark Geyer, Joe Hubach and Colleen O’Connor, Jo Jagoda, Holly and Tom Mayer, The Eugene McDermott Foundation, The Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation, Sarah Titus and Jean Ann Titus, and Kern and Marnie Wildenthal.

The project will debut on May 1, 2024, with Das Rheingold and Die Walküre premiering on consecutive nights. Soprano Sara Jakubiak and tenor Christopher Ventris will portray Sieglinde and Siegmund respectively. Both will be making their DSO debuts. The cycle will continue in Fall 2024. Luisi and the DSO will perform Siegfried on October 5, 2024, and Götterdämmerung on October 8, 2024, followed by a week-long presentation of the full Ring cycle beginning on Sunday, October 13, 2024.

Luisi received his first GRAMMY® Award for his leadership of the last two operas of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen with The Metropolitan Opera. The Deutsche Grammophon DVD release of the full cycle, recorded live, was named Best Opera Recording of 2012. Luisi’s work in opera is extensive, with nine years at the helm of the Zurich Opera and six years as Principal Guest Conductor of The Metropolitan Opera. Luisi also led three complete Ring cycles at the Dresden Semperoper from 2006-2008.

“The Ring Cycle is one of the deepest and most complex musical works that has ever been written. It is all of humanity brought to the stage – family, love, sex, loss, consequences and the quest for power,” said Luisi. “Across the entirety of the story, with beautiful music and beautiful text guiding you, you are transformed at the end.”
 
NEXT STAGE DIGITAL CONCERT SERIES, PRESENTED BY PNC
The Dallas Symphony will continue its popular digital concert series in 2023/24. Next Stage, Presented by PNC Bank will offer select performances from the Texas Instruments Classical Series, the Pops Series, Presented by Capital One and Dallas Symphony Presents concerts on-demand at watch.dallassymphony.org, the DSO’s media portal.

Since its launch in the 2020/21 season, Next Stage has presented over 60 full orchestra concerts and chamber music performances available on demand. The New York Times has singled out performances in the series as “concerts to watch.” Performances from Next Stage have garnered a regional Lone Star Emmy nomination and a national Daytime Emmy nomination.  

Subscribers receive access to Next Stage as a benefit of their subscription and are able to view all available concerts for free. Individual concerts are available for $10 and a season pass is $125. More information is available at watch.dallassymphony.org.
 
POPS SERIES, PRESENTED BY CAPITAL ONE AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik will lead three of the nine programs on the 2023/24 Pops Series, Presented by Capital One.

“It is my goal to share music that features the orchestra in a prominent role and present performances that showcase this incredible ensemble,” said Tyzik. “This season, I am bringing a range of music that reflects very different American styles.” Tyzik will helm Prohibition, a look at the music of speakeasies and cabarets of the 1920s; Uptown Nights, inspired by Harlem’s famed musical hot spots like The Cotton Club and The Savoy, and focusing on Harlem’s heyday; and Country Hits: Songs from Nashville, a tour through the history of country music.

Six-time GRAMMY® Award-winning singer Lila Downs will make her debut with the DSO. Downs is one of the most influential Latin American artists whose compositions combine genres and rhythms as diverse as Mexican rancheras and corridos, boleros, jazz standards, hip-hop, cumbia and popular American music. 

Two great singer-songwriters will appear at the Meyerson with the DSO this season. Pianist, vocalist and composer Ben Folds will return to the DSO. Folds’s decades-long career has spanned pop, folk and classical beginning with his break-through 1995 album, Ben Folds Five. His electric appearances with orchestras are crowd favorites. Singer-songwriter Amos Lee will make his debut with the DSO on the Pops season. Lee’s folk-infused, country-tinged stylings will bring a unique sound to the Meyerson stage. The timeless music of Queen will fill the hall when Rajaton returns to Dallas, and acrobats will twist and turn above the DSO when Troupe Vertigo comes back to the Meyerson.

Movies-in-Concert and Film Music
The upcoming season shines a light on music in film and scoring on the big screen. Three films will be screened in the Meyerson with scores performed live by the DSO. Amadeus will open the season, Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban will bring a bit of Hogwarts to Dallas over Halloween weekend, and The Polar Express will transport you to the North Pole during the holiday season.
In addition, award-winning film composer Danny Elfman will join the DSO on the stage for Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton. Clips, sketches and artwork from films such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Beetlejuice, Batman/Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands and Alice in Wonderland will appear with live scores.
 
HOLIDAY SEASON
The holiday season at the Dallas Symphony will kick off with the annual favorite, Dallas Symphony Christmas Pops. Conductor Lawrence Loh will join the DSO, the Dallas Symphony Chorus and soloists for festive music, holiday sing-a-longs and a visit from Santa (December 1-10, 2023). The King’s Singers will bring their a cappella mastery to the Meyerson with a holiday-themed concert (December 11, 2023). The season will continue with The Polar Express movie-in-concert, and Assistant Conductor Maurice Cohn (Marena & Roger Gault Chair) will lead us into 2024 with the annual New Year’s Eve concert (December 31, 2023).