The Dallas Symphony’s new season — Jaap van Zweden’s ninth and second-to-last as music director — will feature the world-premiere of a new symphony, co-commissioned by the DSO. A new multi-media series, Beyond the Score, will also debut with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5. Beyond the Score was developed by the Chicago Symphony to provide historical and cultural background via projections, soloists and performance.

The DSO also announced the appointment of a new artist-in-residence, the international baritone Matthias Goerne. He will perform as a soloist in the DSO performances of Brahms’ A German Requiem and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion as well as in the Soluna Festival.

Speaking of which, the Soluna Festival, the organ recital series and the ReMix series will all return, as will a number of big-name guest artists, including pianists Lang Lang, Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman.

The full release:

DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES 2016/17 CONCERT SEASON

Jaap van Zweden’s Ninth Season as Music Director

Subscriptions Available Now — Single Tickets Available This Summer

Highlights of the Upcoming Season Include:

• World Premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 5, a DSO Commission
• Baritone Matthias Goerne Named DSO Artist-in-Residence for 2016/17 Season
• Three Masterpieces for Chorus and Orchestra – Brahms’s A German Requiem, J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius
• Beyond the Score®, the Innovative Multimedia Presentation of Classical Music, Debuts in Dallas with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5
• A Celebration of the 125th Birthday of Sergei Prokofiev with the Performance of Three Significant Works
• Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family SOLUNA International Music & Arts Festival Returns for Third Season from May 15 through June 4, 2017
• Pianist Yefim Bronfman Presented in Recital
• Dallas Symphony Pops Series Features DSO Debuts of Stars Megan Hilty and Jason Alexander and Veteran’s Day Weekend Special Appearance of the United States Naval Academy Men’s Glee Club
• Opus 100 Organ Recital Series Includes Partnership with Pipedreams Radio Show
• Dallas Symphony Orchestra Gala Welcomes Pianist Lang Lang
• Musicians Spotlighted as Soloists

DALLAS, TX (February 22, 2016) – Music Director Jaap van Zweden and President & CEO Jonathan Martin announce the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s 2016/17 concert season. The new season highlights the artistic strength of the ensemble, the dynamic leadership of Jaap van Zweden and the DSO’s commitment to the City of Dallas.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS CLASSICAL SERIES

The 2016/17 season is Jaap van Zweden’s ninth season in the Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn
Music Directorship with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and his penultimate season as Music
Director. During the year, van Zweden and the DSO present a number of key concerts including the first-ever DSO performances of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, a celebration of the 125th birthday of Sergei Prokofiev with the performance of three significant works, the world premiere of the DSO commission of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 5, and a season-long exploration of the music of Brahms.

“It is so important for us to perform music that stretches us in new ways, that strengthens us as an ensemble,” said Music Director Jaap van Zweden. “We do this by premiering new works and by looking at familiar pieces with fresh eyes and ears. This keeps the concerts exciting for us and for our Dallas audiences.”

During the 2016/17 season, the DSO welcomes some of the world’s acclaimed concert soloists including Matthias Goerne (DSO’s Artist-in-Residence), Yefim Bronfman, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, Alisa Weilerstein and Emanuel Ax. Making their DSO debuts this season are Alice Coote, Matthias Pintscher, Vilde Frang, Stanisław Skrowaczewski and Francesco Piemontesi. The 2016/17 season also features new and contemporary works. In addition to the February 2017 world premiere of Rouse’s Symphony No. 5, the DSO presents Dallas Symphony premieres of a number of compositions: John Adams’s Lollapalooza, Christopher Rouse’s Rapture, Aaron Jay Kernis’s Violin Concerto (DSO co-commission), Matthias Pintscher’s Mar’eh for Violin and Orchestra (conducted by the composer), Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso No. 2 for Violin, Cello and Orchestra and Bohuslav Martinů’s The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca.

The Dallas Symphony’s innovative ReMix series returns for its fourth season. ReMix allows patrons to hear the DSO in the intimate Dallas City Performance Hall with programs that are shorter, are performed without intermission and feature repertoire beyond what is performed at the Meyerson. Recent ReMix programs have presented collaborations with Dallas Black Dance Theatre 2 and guest artists Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the indie rock band The National.

“The classical season provides so many opportunities to hear the range of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the result of eight seasons under the leadership of Jaap van Zweden,” said Jonathan Martin. “The 2016/17 season showcases an ensemble at the forefront of musical excellence and innovation.”

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2016/17 SEASON

World Premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 5

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, in partnership with the Nashville Symphony and Aspen Music, will present the world premiere performance of American composer Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 5 (February 10-12, 2017). Rouse, a GRAMMY® Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, is regularly performed by the Dallas Symphony and Music Director van Zweden. The DSO will also perform Rouse’s Rapture during the 2016/17 season, and the orchestra featured the composer’s Iscariot during the 2014/15 season. The Rouse commission is supported by the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund.

“It is so vital that we continue to create new music for the orchestra,” said van Zweden. “I am so excited to share the works of Christopher Rouse, especially his new symphony, with Dallas.”

Matthias Goerne Named Dallas Symphony Orchestra Artist-in-Residence

Internationally-renowned baritone Matthias Goerne has been named Artist-in-Residence with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for the 2016/17 season. He will appear as soloist in Brahms’s A German Requiem (October 6-9, 2016) and as Christus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (March 3031, April 2, 2017). Goerne will also perform in a special recital on May 30 during the SOLUNA Festival.

Matthias Goerne is a regular guest with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and enjoys a close relationship with both the ensemble and Music Director Jaap van Zweden. Dallas audiences heard Goerne perform during the 2014/15 season in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and as soloist in Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn in January 2014. He also appears as Wotan in the recent Naxos recording of Das Rheingold with Jaap van Zweden and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Beyond the Score® – Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5

On June 3, 2017, the DSO will present the Dallas debut of Beyond the Score®, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s innovative multi-media series. Beyond the Score® weaves performance, unique projections of moving and still images, actors, soloists and narration into engaging productions, setting composers and their masterpieces in an artistic, social, political and cultural context.

The evening’s concert will begin with the presentation, and the concert concludes with
Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 performed in its entirety.

“I am so delighted to bring Beyond the Score® to Dallas,” said van Zweden. “Prokofiev’s masterpiece is so full of elements and historical background to explore, and I know our audiences will find new depths in the music after they see the presentation.”

Yefim Bronfman Presented in Concert and in Recital

Pianist Yefim Bronfman, hailed as “a marvel of digital dexterity, warmly romantic sentiment, and jaw-dropping bravura” by the Chicago Tribune, returns to Dallas as soloist in Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (June 2 & 4, 2017) with Music Director Jaap van Zweden and the DSO. The celebrated pianist will also perform a special recital on May 22, 2017. The concert includes
works by Bartók, Debussy, Schumann and Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

Three Masterpieces for Chorus and Orchestra

The Dallas Symphony Chorus and acclaimed soloists take center stage in three large works for chorus and orchestra – Brahms’s A German Requiem (October 6-9, 2016), J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (March 30-April 2, 2017) and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius (May 26-27, 2017). Joshua Habermann, Dallas Symphony Chorus Director, Jean D. Wilson Chorus Director Chair, commented on the upcoming performances on these works:

• Brahms A German Requiem
  “This is a Requiem not to mourn the dead, but to comfort the living. This work is one of the pillars of the choral-orchestral repertoire, and one of my desert island pieces.”
• Bach St. Matthew Passion
  “This wonderful work is one of the glories of Western music, considered by many to be the pinnacle of expression in the Baroque period. The piece is a profoundly moving setting of the Passion story told through the genius of J. S. Bach.”
• Elgar The Dream of Gerontius
  “This large-scale work is a masterful rhapsodic meditation on life, death and transcendence from one of our most under-appreciated composers. It is a rare treat to perform – or to hear – this marvelous piece.”

Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family SOLUNA International Music & Arts Festival – May 15 through June 4, 2017

The third edition of the SOLUNA International Music & Arts Festival returns on May 15 through June 4, 2017. As in its first two years, the festival, called “impressive and delightfully edgy…” by the Dallas Morning News and “…the latest collaborative crescendo for a city that has long been on the up” by *Wallpaper, will partner with organizations and contemporary visual artists to present boundary-blurring events.

The classical music programming for SOLUNA 2017 features Music Director Jaap van Zweden conducting Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius (May 26-27, 2017) and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 (June 2 & 4, 2017) (with the special Beyond the Score® performance on June 3, 2017). The first weekend of SOLUNA includes performances in the ReMix series, the DSO’s casual concert series.

Opus 100 Organ Recital Series Returns for Third Season

The Lay Family Concert Organ is a jewel in the Dallas cultural crown, and the Opus 100 Organ Series returns for a third season to spotlight the instrument. The series kicks off on October 23, 2016 at 2:30 PM with a program featuring prominent American organists from Texas, including George Baker, Scott Dettra, James Diaz and Monica Czausz. Michael Barone, from the internationally-syndicated radio program Pipedreams, will host.

On March 26, 2017, British organist Thomas Trotter is the soloist. Trotter is the Birmingham City Organist, as well as organist at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey, and visiting Fellow in Organ Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. The distinguished organist performs works by J. S. Bach and others.

Nathan Laube, American organist and Assistant Professor of Organ at The Eastman School of Music, is the featured performer on Opus 100 on June 14, 2017 at 7:30 PM. The concert is presented in association with the Southwest Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra Gala Welcomes Pianist Lang Lang

Music Director Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra welcome internationally renowned pianist Lang Lang as the featured soloist at the 2016 Dallas Symphony Orchestra Gala on Friday, September 16, 2016. Called “the hottest artist on the classical music planet” by The New York Times, superstar pianist Lang Lang dazzles wherever he goes. He’s as comfortable on the classical concert stage as he is performing with Metallica and Pharrell Williams. His astonishing technique and electric personality bring theatrical excitement to his performances.

“I am pleased to welcome my friend Lang Lang back to Dallas,” said Dallas Symphony Orchestra Music Director Jaap van Zweden. “I have worked with him many times, and it is always a pleasure to experience his dynamic performances. I know the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Gala will be an unforgettable evening of music and celebration.”

The 2016 Dallas Symphony Orchestra Gala at the Meyerson Symphony Center is one of the Dallas Symphony’s largest annual fund-raisers. The star-studded, black-tie event will feature a
champagne and cocktail reception, elegant seated dinner, Gala Concert and After-Party featuring savories, desserts and dancing. The 2016 Gala is chaired by Marena and Roger Gault with Honorary Chair Sherwood Wagner and Underwriting Chairs Margaret and Barry Hancock and Kristi and Ron Hoyl.

For information and to purchase tickets to the Gala, contact 214-871-4090 or [email protected]. Concert/After-Party tickets go on sale for subscribers on Monday, February 22, 2016 and may be purchased through the Dallas Symphony Box Office at 214-TIX-4DSO.

DSO Musicians Spotlighted as Soloists

Dallas Symphony Orchestra musicians will be featured as soloists throughout the season in a range of works. The musicians commented on their appearances.

• Haydn: Trumpet Concerto (September 29-October 2, 2016) – Ryan Anthony, Principal
  Trumpet, Diane & Hal Brierley Chair
  “This was probably the first concerto I learned. In each movement, Haydn unveils new dimensions and colors. The second movement is like an opera aria, the third movement is a dance. Nothing is frivolous, yet the music is fun and refreshing.”
• R. Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 (January 12-14, 2017) – David Cooper, Principal Horn,
  Howard E. Rachofsky Chair
  “The Strauss horn concerto has everything from the most heroic moments to the most beautiful, heartfelt moments and ends with a flourish of pyrotechnics!It’s an exciting piece that is second to none and a lot of fun.”
• Schnittke: Concerto Grosso No. 2 for Violin, Cello and Orchestra (ReMix – January 2021,
  2017) – Maria Schleuning, violin; Jolyon Pegis, Associate Principal Cello
  “This piece is unique in that it combines so many different musical styles; the pre-classical
  concerto grosso with Baroque themes, expanded into a full orchestra with electric guitar, bass guitar and drum set. Schnittke may allude to Bach in one moment, only to break out into pop, funk or band music in the next. It is an incredibly multifaceted work that should really appeal to music lovers of all kinds.”
• Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 (March 16-19, 2017) – Alexander Kerr, Concertmaster,
  Michael L. Rosenberg Chair
  “From its dreamy opening to its ethereal end, this concerto has it all: lyricism, virtuosity and soulful expression. I can’t wait to perform this concerto for our Dallas audience!”
• Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (April 27-30, 2017) – Nathan Olson, Co-Concertmaster, ,
  Fanchon & Howard Hallam Chair.
  “With a natural violin virtuosity that still resonates today, The Four Seasons is an incredibly evocative journey through time and space. From a shivery, dangerous ‘Winter,’ to the joy and relief of ‘Spring,’ to a surprisingly turbulent and dramatic ‘Summer,’ this piece is a joy to perform. This is the reason these four concertos have remained so popular to this day.”

DSO POPS SERIES

The 2016/17 Dallas Symphony Pops Series is the fourth season for Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik on the Dot and Paul Mason Principal Pops Conductor Podium. This year, the DSO presents a wide range of popular music and guest artists that provide the best entertainment and showcases the talent of the orchestra.

The Pops series kicks off on September 9-11, 2016, with the DSO Debut of Broadway and television star Megan Hilty. Hilty is best known for her role as Glinda in Wicked and as Ivy Lynn on NBC’s Smash.

• Disney’s iconic animated feature Fantasia returns to the Meyerson on October 28-30
  (with a special one-hour family performance on October 29 at 11AM). The Fantasia concerts include works from the original 1940 film as well as selections from Fantasia 2000.
• Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik brings the United States Naval Academy Men’s Glee
  Club to the Meyerson on November 11-13, 2016. This Veteran’s Day weekend performance will feature patriotic favorites to celebrate those who have served.
• Seinfeld alum Jason Alexander makes his DSO debut on January 27-29, 2017. The Tony Award-winning actor takes the stage with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in an evening of Broadway song and comedy.
• “There has never been a pair quite like Ella and Louis,” said Jeff Tyzik. “Their partnership gifted the musical world with iconic songs and superlative performances that are
  unparalleled to this day.” In a tribute to Fitzgerald and Armstrong, Tyzik, along with Byron Stripling and Marva Hicks, leads an evening of the best-known songs and solos in “Ella and Louis” on March 10-12, 2017.
• “The Music of the Eagles” fills the Meyerson on April 21-23, 2017. Brent Havens conducts the well-known hits, including “Hotel California,” “Desperado” and “Take It Easy,” with a full rock band alongside the DSO.
• Jeff Tyzik leads the Mambo Kings in a Cinco de Mayo weekend concerts (May 5-7, 2017). The band is one of the country’s foremost Latin jazz ensembles, and has rapidly earned a national reputation for its explosive blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz improvisation.
• With five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and 22 GRAMMY® Awards, composer John Williams is the most decorated, and most memorable, film composer around. The Dallas Symphony, under the direction of Jeff Tyzik, pays tribute to his scores in “The Best of John Williams” on June 23-25, 2017.

“I always enjoy the Dallas Symphony Pops Season as it includes so many different kinds of
music,” said Martin. “I appreciate what Jeff has done to bring such great entertainment to the DSO patrons.”

“Working with the Dallas Symphony over these past few seasons has been such a joy,” said
Tyzik. “We’ve developed a great partnership, and it’s a pleasure to work with musicians who bring their all and so much talent to everything on the stage.”

Season packages for the 2016/17 season go on sale on Monday, February 22, 2016. Packages begin at $109 and may be purchased by calling the box office at 214.TIX.4DSO. Information available online at www.mydso.com