DSO ready to rebuild with its 2011-2012 season
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, hammered by a six-month strike that all but wiped out this season, will embark on an unprecedented series of Metro area concerts to complement performances at Orchestra Hall in 2011-12. Commenting on plans for next season to be announced today, music director Leonard Slatkin said the DSO will aggressively pursue the strategy inaugurated in this shortened season of taking the music where its potential audience primarily lives — the suburbs. The orchestra also will continue the live webcasts started this spring.
Faced with a critical need to rebuild ticketsales that already were slumping before the strike, the DSO recently announced heavy cuts in ticket prices to lure back an audience further diminished when the orchestra dropped out of sight for most of the current season.
"Orchestra Hall remains central to the definition of what this orchestra is, but clearly our constituents don't all live in Detroit," Slatkin says. "We need to create options for them to attend DSO concerts near their homes. We need to establish bases for long-term relationships."
Many of next season's programs will be played only twice at Orchestra Hall, and in two instances guest conductors are slated to lead only one performance there. Though Slatkin acknowledged that those pairs and singles would be augmented by "community" performances, the DSO will not announce details for several weeks.
Slatkin will be making his fourth attempt at a full season with the orchestra. His first year was rendered partial by his prior commitments, his second year was foreshortened when he suffered a heart attack and last season was shrunk by the strike.
"We've tried to create a good balance of the great standards and some things that are a bit unusual," says Slatkin, whose season opener on Oct. 8 exemplifies that idea. Paired with Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique" will be the U.S. premiere of jazz pianist Michel Camilo's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the composer as soloist.
Slatkin will spend 16 weeks with the orchestra, mostly in the season's second half. After the opening concerts, he's gone until the world's most famous married flutists, Sir James Galway and Lady Jeanne Galway, join him at Orchestra Hall Nov. 17-20.
One of the autumn's most appealing programs follows Nov. 25-27 when Slatkin conducts Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony, Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3 and an electrifying [[indeed partially electronic) new work by the young American composer Mason Bates called "B-Sides" that closes with a ripping homage to Detroit's techno scene.
Among notable guest conductors for next season are longtime favorite Jerzy Semkow with pianist Kirill Gerstein [[Oct. 20-21); former DSO resident conductor Thomas Wilkins with saxophonist Branford Marsalis [[Dec. 2-4); Hans Graf, music director of the Houston Symphony [[Jan. 28); and DSO music director emeritus Neeme Jarvi with pianist Hélène Grimaud [[March 29-April 1).
Other soloists include DSO concertmaster Emmanuelle Boisvert [[Oct. 27-29), teenage piano phenom Conrad Tao [[Jan. 20-22), pianist Emanuel Ax [[Feb. 17-18) and cellist Fred Zlotkin, Slakin's brother [[May 3-6).
High on the list of musical temptations are Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 [[Semkow), Schumann's Symphony No. 2 [[Graf), Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances [[Slatkin), Mahler's Fifth Symphony [[Slatkin), Brahms' "German Requiem" [[Slatkin), Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 [[Robert Levin with Nicholas McGegan conducting), Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 [[Grimaud, Jarvi), Saint-Saens' "Organ" Symphony [[Slatkin) and John Williams' Cello Concerto [[DSO principal Robert deMaine, Slatkin).
Detroit Symphony Orchestra 2011-12 Classical & Pops Season Concerts
Max M. Fisher Music Center
3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit
[[313) 576-5111
www.dso.org
Classical Season
Symphonie Fantastique with Leonard Slatkin and pianist Michel Camilo , 8 p.m. Oct. 8 and 2 p.m. Oct. 9
Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" with Jerzy Semkow and pianist Kirill Gerstein, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 and 8 p.m. Oct. 21
Beethoven's Fifth with Louis Langr é e and violinist Emmanuelle Boisvert , 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27; 10:45 a.m. Oct. 28; and 8 p.m. Oct. 29
Tchaikovsky Symphony Nov. 5 with Joana Carneiro and guitarist Xuefei Yang , 10:45 a.m. Nov. 4 and 8 p.m. Nov. 5
Festival of Flutes with Leonard Slatkin and flutist Sir James Galway and more, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17; 10:45 a.m. Nov. 18; 8 p.m. Nov. 19; and 3 p.m. Nov. 20
Schubert's immortal "Unfinished" Symphony with Leonard Slatkin , 8 p.m. Nov. 25-26 and 3 p.m. Nov. 27
Beethoven 7 with Thomas Wilkins and saxophonist Branford Marsalis, 10:45 a.m. Dec. 2; 8 p.m. Dec. 3; and 3 p.m. Dec. 4
Holiday Classics: The Four Seasons with Matthew Halls and violinist Nicola Benedetti, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 and 8 p.m. Dec. 10
Messiah with Christopher Warren-Green, 3 p.m. Dec. 10-11
Franck's Symphony in D Minor with Hélène Bouchez and pianist Conrad Tao, 8 p.m. Jan. 20-21 and 3 p.m. Jan. 22
"Invitation to the Dance" with Hans Graf and horn player Karl Pituch , 8 p.m. Jan. 28
Ravishing Rachmaninoff with Leonard Slatkin and violinist Julian Rachlin , 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9; 10:45 a.m. Feb. 10; and 8 p.m. Feb. 11
Ax Plays Mozart and Slatkin Conducts Mahler with Leonard Slatkin and pianist Emanuel Ax, 10:45 a.m. Feb. 17 and 8 p.m. Feb. 18
Brahms "Requiem" with Leonard Slatkin , soprano Ellie Dehn , baritone Kyle Ketelsen , UMS Choral Union and MSU Children's Choir, 8 p.m. Feb. 24 and 3 p.m. Feb. 26
Peter & the Wolf and Alice in Wonderland with Leonard Slatkin and soprano Hila Plitmann , 7:30 p.m. March 1 and 8 p.m. March 3
Classical Roots with Andr é Raphel, 10:45 a.m. March 16 and 8 p.m. March 17
Beethoven's "Emperor" with Nicholas McGegan and pianist Robert Levin, 8 p.m. March 23
Järvi Returns with Neeme Järvi and pianist Hélène Grimaud, 7:30 p.m. March 29; 8 p.m. March 31; and 3 p.m. April 1
Dvoøák's "New World" with Leonard Slatkin , the UMS Choral Union and pianist Jeffrey Biegel , 8 p.m. April 20-21
"Pictures at an Exhibition" with Leonard Slatkin , cellist Fred Zlotkin and violinist Kim Kennedy, 7:30 p.m. May 3; 10:45 a.m. May 4; and 3 p.m. May 6
Saint-Saëns' "Organ" Symphony with Leonard Slatkin and organist Craig Rifel, 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m. May 11
Season Finale "The Pines of Rome" with Leonard Slatkin and cellist Robert deMaine , 7:30 p.m. May 17; 10:45 a.m. May 18; and 8 p.m. May 19
Pops Season
An Evening with Rodgers and Hammerstein with Jonathan Tunick and vocalists Schuler Hensley and Kate Baldwin, 10:45 a.m. Oct. 14; 8 p.m. Oct. 15; and 3 p.m. Oct. 16
Trumpeter Chris Botti with conductor Jeff Tyzik, 8 p.m. Nov. 12 and 3 p.m. Nov. 13
Home for the Holidays with Leonard Slatkin, 10:45 a.m. Dec. 16; 3 and 8 p.m. Dec. 17; and 3 p.m. Dec. 18
Gershwin and the American Songbook with Bob Bernhardt and vocalist Ann Hampton Callaway, 10:45 a.m. Jan. 13; 8 p.m. Jan. 14; and 3 p.m. Jan. 15
Love Will Keep us Together with Steven Reineke and vocalists Mike Eldred and Betsy Wolfe, 8 p.m. Feb. 4 and 2 p.m. Feb. 5
A Sci-Fi Spectacular with Jack Everly, special guest George Takei and vocalist Kristin Plumley, 10:45 a.m. March 9; 8 p.m. March 10; and 3 p.m. March 11
Viva Italia with Michael Krajewski and vocalist Poperazzi, 10:45 a.m. April 13; 8 p.m. April 14; and 3 p.m. April 15
A Tribute to Elvis with vocalist Kraig Parker, 10:45 a.m. April 27 and 8 p.m. April 28
A Night at the Cotton Club with Jeff Tyzik, trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling, vocalist Carmen Bradford and tap dancer and vocalist Ted Levey, 10:45 a.m. June 1; 8 p.m. June 2; and 3 p.m. June 3
Neil Sedaka, 10:45 a.m. June 15; 8 p.m. June 16; and 3 p.m. June 17
