Music Director Jonathon Heyward and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Launch 2024/25 Season September 20 and 21 - IMG ARTISTS (original) (raw)

Music Director Jonathon Heyward and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra open their 2024/25 season with two concerts featuring internationally acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma on 20 and 21 September. Following the Season Opening Celebration on Friday at The Music Center at Strathmore, Heyward, the Orchestra and Ma are joined by the talented student musicians from both BSO OrchKids and the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras for the BSO’s Annual Gala on Saturday at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

This season, themed “Music that Resonates,” builds on the momentum of Heyward’s inaugural season as MD. The BSO shares that audiences will experience “classical masterpieces, operatic marvels, jazz innovations and groundbreaking multidisciplinary performances to offer an unmatched experience in musical exploration and community engagement.”

Heyward’s BSO highlights include his concerts on September 27-29 featuring violinist James Ehnes’ performance of Barber’s Violin Concerto, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 and Visions of Cahokia by the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence James Lee III.

The tuba takes centre stage on November 9 – 11 as BSO Principal Aubrey Foard performs Wynton Marsalis’ virtuosic Tuba Concerto. The evocative programme includes Sibelius’ transcendent Symphony No. 5 and Nielsen’s Helios Overture.

Heyward and the BSO are joined by pianist Alice Sara Ott for concerts on November 15 – 17 that champion the power of art over despair including Stravinsky’s rascally Renard, Bartók’s vibrant Concerto for Orchestra and Ravel’s sparkling Piano Concerto in G.

Joined by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society Women’s Chorus, Heyward and the BSO welcome the start of 2025 with celestial concerts on January 9 – 12, featuring Holst’s The Planets, Composer in Residence James Lee III’s Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula and Anna Clyne’s Grasslands, featuring saxophonist Jess Gillam.

Heyward and the BSO are joined by Conrad Tao, who lends his “elegantly unruffled” (The New York Times) interpretation to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor on January 16 – 18. The programme includes Britten’s “Passacaglia” from Peter Grimes and Lutosławski’s folk music-infused mid-century modernist masterpiece: Concerto for Orchestra.

Soprano Julia Bullock stars with Heyward and the Orchestra from February 27 – March 1. The BSO writes, “Jessie Montgomery, in collaboration with soprano Julia Bullock, drew from a 19th-century anthology of spirituals to create a work that articulates a powerful expression of their shared experience as Black Americans [for _Five Freedom Songs_]. Bullock returns for Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, with Music Director Jonathon Heyward steering the BSO through this dreamy score all the way to its heavenly, melodious finale. Dvořák’s [_Carnival Overture_] is a joyous, exuberant celebration of life, transporting the listener into the wild clamor of a carnival at nightfall.”

Heywar and the BSO are joined by Augustin Hadelich, performing Berg’s mysterious Violin Concerto on March 6 – 8. The work is paired with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Martinů’s Memorial to Lidice, in which the composer draws upon Beethoven’s symphony and the St. Wenceslas Chorale in this memorial to a Nazi massacre.

Heyward pays tribute to Duke Ellington on March 15, celebrating the iconic jazz legend’s philosophy of music “beyond category,” intermingling America’s greatest native art form with classical symphonic traditions.

May 1 – 4 sees the world premiere of BSO commission James Lee III’s Cello Concerto with soloist Joshua Roman, paired with Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and Elgar’s Froissart.

Renowned pianist Yefim Bronfman is the soloist on May 1 – 4 , which sees the second James Lee III world premiere and BSO commission with his Concerto for Orchestra. The Orchestra writes, “BSO Music Director Jonathon Heyward leads a dynamic program possessing a strong sense of place. Completed while under siege, Beethoven [‘s Piano Concerto No. 5 ‘Emperor’] melds Viennese sophistication with musical heroism amidst the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Smetana’s patriotic tribute [_The Moldau_] to his homeland solidified his reputation as the ‘father of Czech music,’ a rousing and lush ode to the rivers and mountains surrounding Prague, culminating in a triumphant hymn. Composer in Residence James Lee III unveils the world premiere of his BSO-commissioned Concerto for Orchestra, channeling his own love of Baltimore in a daring and evocative new work.”

Heyward closes the season with epic concert performances of Verdi’s Aida. With an all-star cast featuring Angel Blue (Aida), Jamie Barton (Amneris), Limmie Pulliam (Radamès), Reginald Smith, Jr. (Amonasro) and Mark S. Doss (Ramfis), alongside The Washington Chorus, the complete Aida will thrill audiences on June 13 and 15.

The orchestra writes, “You don’t need sets or costumes (or even live elephants!) to appreciate the magnitude and wonder of Aida, Verdi’s tumultuous tale of love and loyalty set in Ancient Egypt. All you need is a prima donna as spectacular as soprano Angel Blue, whose “voice perforated the hearts of her listeners and miraculously captured the tortured oscillations of Aida’s existence perfectly” (OperaWire), reported after a concert production led by BSO Music Director Jonathon Heyward with the Detroit Opera. This concert adaptation allows the beauty and drama of the original opera to soar on the symphonic stage.”

For more information and to purchase tickets to Jonathon Heyward and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s 2024/25 season, please visit https://my.bsomusic.org/

Photo: Laura Thiesbrummel