Thursday, October 28th, 2010 | by Detroit Symphony Orchestra

DETROIT, (Oct. 28, 2010) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will present the angelic and exquisite voices of the world-renowned Vienna Boys’ Choir at Orchestra Hall on Mon., Nov. 15 as they sing classical selections from Europe and around the world. The performance will begin at 8:00 p.m. led by choirmaster Andy Icochea Icochea and will feature selections from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, several pieces by Franz Schubert and Johann Strauss Jr. and many more. The Vienna Boys’ Choir is sponsored by the Hotel Residenz Palais Coburg and presented as part of the Delta Airlines Special Event Series.

The Vienna Boys Choir was founded in 1498 and sang exclusively for the imperial court until 1918. The ensemble began providing concerts outside of Vienna’s Imperial Chapel in 1926, performing motets, secular works, and – at the boys’ request – children’s operas. Today there are around 100 choristers between the ages of ten and fourteen, divided into four touring choirs. Each group spends nine to eleven weeks of the school year on tour. Together with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Chorus, the Vienna Boys Choir maintains the tradition of the imperial musicians and provide music for the Sunday Mass in the Imperial Chapel, as they have done since 1498.

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Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 | by Detroit Symphony Orchestra

DETROIT, (Oct 20, 2010) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will present Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater at Orchestra Hall on Fri., Nov. 5, 2010 at 8 p.m. in her tribute to jazz legend Billie Holiday: “To Billie With Love”.  This 2010-11 Jazz Series performance is sponsored by MGM Grand Detroit, and will feature selections from Bridgewater’s 2010 album Eleanora Fagan: To Billie With Love From Dee Dee. The quartet backing Bridgewater includes saxophonist Craig Handy, pianist Edsel Gomez, drummer Greg Hutchinson, and bassist Ira Coleman. This concert is preceded by Civic Jazz Live! Featuring the Civic Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Combo A in the Music Box at 6:30 p.m.

ABOUT DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER

As an ambassador of jazz, Dee Dee was familiar with its music before she could walk. Her mother played the greatest albums of Ella Fitzgerald, whose artistry provided an inspiration for Dee Dee throughout her career. Dee Dee’s other vocation as that of globetrotter began when she toured the Soviet Union in 1969 with the University of Illinois Big Band.  Dee Dee made her New York debut in 1970 as the lead vocalist for the band led by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, one of the premier jazz orchestras of the time. These New York years marked an early career in concerts and on recordings with such giants as Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach and Roland Kirk, and rich experiences with Norman Connors, Stanley Clarke and Frank Foster’s “Loud Minority.”

In 1974 she jumped at the chance to act and sing on Broadway where her voice, beauty and stage presence won her great success and a Tony Award for her role as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wiz. This began a long line of awards and accolades as well as opportunities to work in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris and in London where she garnered the coveted “Laurence Olivier” Award nomination as Best Actress for her tour de force portrayal of jazz legend Billie Holiday in Stephen Stahl’s Lady Day. Performing the lead in equally demanding acting/singing roles as Sophisticated Ladies, Cosmopolitan Greetings, Black Ballad, Carmen Jazz and the musical Cabaret (the first black actress to star as Sally Bowles), she secured her reputation as a consummate entertainer.

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Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 | by Detroit Symphony Orchestra

DETROIT, (Oct. 20, 2010) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will present a Macy’s Super Saturday Halloween Open House for children ages 1-10 on Sat. Oct. 30 from 9:00 a.m. until noon at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. The event will feature two performances of Halloween-themed music in The Music Box at 10:00 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. by Musique Noire.

Additional activities for children will take place on all three levels of The Atrium inside the Max M. Fisher Music Center and will include the Marshall Music Instrument Petting Zoo where kids can play with instruments. Other activities will include arts and crafts, coloring stations, trick or treating, face-painting and more. There will be a costume contest and showing of a Halloween-themed, kid-friendly movie in the Allesee Rehearsal Hall.

The members of Musique Noire, residing in Detroit and Chicago, are veteran players and music educators with national and international reputations. The ensemble produces a sophisticated sound that showcases unique string and percussion-based arrangements of jazz and world fusion that demonstrates the diversity of sounds when pairing instruments of the string family with congas, bongos and other percussion instruments. 

Tickets may be purchased at the Max M. Fisher Music Center box office (3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit), by calling (313) 576-5111, or online at www.detroitsymphony.com for $12. Ages two and under are free.

EVENT

Macy’s Super Saturday Halloween Open House

Max M. Fisher Music Center

Children’s activities and music by Musique Noire

Sat., Oct. 30 from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

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Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 | by Detroit Symphony Orchestra

DETROIT, (Oct. 13, 2010) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) announced today that due to the ongoing strike by its musicians, all orchestral concerts scheduled through November 7 will be cancelled, including the Nov. 5-7  Tchaikovsky’s 5^th concerts featuring conductor Joana Carneiro and guitarist Xuefei Yang.  The cancellations avoid both inconvenience to conductors and guest artists preparing to travel internationally and unnecessary advertising costs and, most especially, allow thousands of ticket holders to exchange tickets and make plans for the remainder of the season.  Plans are underway to reschedule guest artists and conductors related to these appearances in future seasons.  Non-orchestral concerts (see list), DSO Education programs and rentals will continue as planned.  If a settlement is reached by the conclusion of October, the DSO will be able to avoid further cancellations. 

More than 90 percent of ticket holders to the DSO’s opening concert weekend opted to exchange, donate or treat their ticket as a raincheck. 

“We are ready and eager to get back to the negotiating table as soon as the players are willing so that orchestral music can be brought back to this community,” said Anne Parsons, DSO President & CEO.  “If we are successful, the remaining classical concerts in November with Leonard Slatkin and Andrew Davis will be preserved.”

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Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 | by Detroit Symphony Orchestra

DETROIT, (Oct 13, 2010) – Mark your calendars and join the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s (DSO) Civic Youth Orchestra as they kick off the first of seven concerts of the 2010-11 season on Sun. Oct. 24 at 7:00p.m., featuring guest violinist Anthony Bracewell, and conductor Charles Burke, Director of Education for the DSO and Artistic Director of DSO’s Civic Youth Ensembles (CYE). The Orchestra will be performing John Estacio’s Spring’s Promise, Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4.

Civic Youth Ensembles (CYE) consist of several individual ensembles including Civic Youth Orchestra, three jazz ensembles, Wind Symphony, Philharmonic Orchestra and Sinfonia. The Honda Power of Dreams string orchestras are pre-orchestra training ensembles designed to teach children to play their instruments and perform in a group. Each year the educational programs of the DSO reach 25,000 youth.

Commissioned by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in the winter of 2004, John Estacio’s Spring’s Promise was composed in the dead of winter and was written in anticipation of spring. The opening of the piece is somewhat chilly and bleak. The violas, with their mutes on, introduce a simple little melody, which, as the piece progresses, will become the predominant theme. Each time this theme returns, it is presented in slightly warmer tones until the entire orchestra plays together en masse to bring the piece to a ringing climax.

Composed in 1723, the Four Seasons is Antonio Vivaldi’s best-known work and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each of the four concertos is varied, each resembling its own respective season. For example, “Winter” is peppered with silvery staccato notes from the high strings, calling to mind icy rain, whereas “Summer” evokes a thunderstorm in its final movement, which is why the movement is often dubbed “Storm.” Each concerto is in three movements, with a slow movement between two faster ones. At the time of writing the Four Seasons, the modern solo form of the concerto had not yet been defined (typically a solo instrument and accompanying orchestra). Vivaldi’s original arrangement for solo violin with string quartet and basso continuo helped to define the form.

Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 is the last of his symphonies and was completed in 1885. The symphony is rich in allusions, most notably to various Beethoven compositions and may well have been inspired by the ancient Greek tragedies of Sophocles that Brahms had been reading at the time.

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Thursday, October 7th, 2010 | by Detroit Symphony Orchestra

DETROIT (Oct. 7, 2010) –The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will host violinist Sarah Chang and pianist Robert Koenig on Orchestra Hall stage on Monday, Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in a special recital program featuring Brahms’ Sonatensatz and Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108 as well as César Franck’s Sonata for Violin and Piano.  Patrons who have purchased tickets to this weekend’s cancelled season opening concerts can attend free of charge by presenting their pre-purchased concert tickets.  The general public can purchase general admission seating for $25.  Tickets go on sale on Fri., Oct. 8. This performance is made possible by a generous gift from PVS Chemicals.

“We’re delighted that Sarah and Robert have chosen to offer this opportunity for the public to join us at Orchestra Hall for a special chamber recital on Monday,” said DSO President & CEO Anne Parsons. “We are sad to have lost the opportunity to hear Sarah with the Orchestra this weekend and we welcome this gift to our patrons and the metro Detroit community.”

Patrons who have tickets to the Symphonie Fantastique season opening concerts featuring Music Director Leonard Slatkin and Sarah Chang that were originally scheduled from Oct. 8-10, but were cancelled due to lack of rehearsals associated with the musicians’ strike, can submit their tickets at the door to the Sarah Chang recital for general admission seating.  The general public can purchase general admission seating for $25.  Doors to Orchestra Hall will open at 5:30 p.m.

“In these times of difficulty for everyone I hope my recital can help to keep the music alive for this city,” said Sarah Chang.

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Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 | by Detroit Symphony Orchestra

 DETROIT, (Oct. 6, 2010) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) announced today that due to missed rehearsals related to the strike of musicians, it must cancel its season opening concerts this weekend on Oct. 8, 9 and 10 featuring Music Director Leonard Slatkin and guest violinist Sarah Chang.

Because the DSO has a recording scheduled on Tues., Oct. 12, it is the organization’s goal to announce a decision on the status of its Bernstein & Rachmaninoff concert that week on Tues., Oct. 12 at noon.

For Patrons

All remaining concerts remain scheduled as planned as the DSO remains hopeful the musicians will return to work.  Patrons can visit www.detroitsymphony.com  for updates and information on concerts or call the DSO hotline at 313-576-5123 or the Box Office at 313-576-5111.

The DSO is offering ticket exchanges for any DSO or Orchestra Hall concert or event, in any series.  Patrons can also elect to support the DSO by turning the face value of their tickets into an annual fund donation, supporting the DSO’s general operation and the many education and outreach programs it offers to the community.  If a patron elects not to exchange their tickets or consider a donation, the DSO will honor requests for refunds if a concert is cancelled.

About the DSO:

The internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the fourth-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, is known for trailblazing performances, visionary maestros and collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists.  Esteemed conductor Leonard Slatkin, called “America’s Music Director” by the Los Angeles Times, became the 12th Music Director of the DSO during the 2008-09 season.  The DSO offers a year-round performance schedule that includes classical, pops, jazz, young people’s concerts and festivals.  The DSO makes its home in historic Orchestra Hall, one of America’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, and actively pursues a mission to impact and serve the community through music.  For more information please visit www.detroitsymphony.com.

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Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 | by Detroit Symphony Orchestra

DETROIT, (Oct. 5, 2010)

WHO: The Detroit Symphony Orchestra

WHAT: The DSO will host a press conference at 10:15 AM on Wed., Oct. 6 to provide an update on the status of upcoming concerts and patron services. Media are requested to enter through the stage doors located behind Orchestra Hall at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Parsons. The press conference will be broadcast live via webcam on the DSO’s website, www.detroitsymphony.com

WHEN: Wed. Oct 6, 10:15 a.m.

WHERE: Orchestra Hall Stage at the Max M. Fisher Music Center 3711 Woodward Avenue, Detroit MI, 48201

ABOUT THE DSO: The internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the fourth-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, is known for trailblazing performances, visionary maestros and collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists. Esteemed conductor Leonard Slatkin, called “America’s Music Director” by the Los Angeles Times, became the 12th Music Director of the DSO during the 2008-09 season. The DSO offers a year-round performance schedule that includes classical, pops, jazz, young people’s concerts and festivals. The DSO makes its home in historic Orchestra Hall, one of America’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, and actively pursues a mission to impact and serve the community through music. For more information please visit www.detroitsymphony.com

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