As the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 100th anniversary, the orchestra will conduct its season with special guests, new music, collaborations, and even transport audiences back to music performed five decades ago.
A star-studded 2015-2016 lineup brings Baltimore institutions and artists together who have a deep association with the City. Music Director, Emeritus Yuri Temirkanov, will re-join the BSO as a guest conductor. Audiences can delight in seeing world-renowned guests such as Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Andr Watts, Leon Fleisher, Hilary Hahn, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg will return to the Baltimore stage.
Other featured works include six Baltimore-native and resident composers, 22 works by living composers and 43 works by composers who lived during the last 100 years. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts and a percussion concerto by James MacMillan will present a multimedia project and 10short Centennial Commissions.
Joining the celebration will be performances of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (with Center Stage) and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet (Folger Theatre). Also, Martha Graham (Baltimore School for the Arts) will present Copland's Appalachian Spring with the original choreography.
In addition to a classic repertoire of the Requiems by Brahms and Verdi, Mahler's Fifth Symphony, An Alpine Symphony and Sprach Zarathustra by R. Strauss, music lovers can enjoy Holst's The Planets and the first BSO performances in 50 years of the B-Minor Mass by J.S. Bach.
The BSO hopes to celebrate its supporters as "our way of saying thank you to the audiences who have supported us and grown with us over time. And it is also our invitation to join us to see what artistic achievements and community milestones the Orchestra's next 100 years will bring," says the symphony's 12th Music Director, Marian Alsop.
"For 100 years, the BSO has been embedded in the fabric of this community," Alsop says. "We have become Baltimore's soundtrack and the inspiration for more than five generations of music makers and music lovers. Our legacy runs deep, and our roots in communities throughout Maryland run even deeper. This season, we pay homage to that enduring legacy of artistic greatness and community engagement through a season more spectacular, meaningful and innovative than any other in our history."
According to the Baltimore City Archives, "After a few seasons of performances in the 1890s, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra officially commenced in 1916 becoming the first municipal symphony orchestra in the country when the Baltimore City Council appropriated $6,000 for six concerts held at the Lyric Theatre."
"The 53 member orchestra was first managed by city-appointed Frederick Huber and conducted by Gustav Strube, head of the Department of Harmony and Composition at Peabody Institute. The City of Baltimore continued to support the Orchestra for 26 years, within which time the orchestra introduced distinguished guest conductors, children's concerts, recognition of local talent, performances for minorities, and radio broadcasts. In 1942, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra separated from city government and became an incorporated, independent association."
The icing on the cake is the BSO's Centennial Celebration Week, Feb. 10-14, 2016, marking the Orchestra's inaugural concert that took place on Feb. 11, 1916.
The BSO's centennial season starts this week. For more information and a full line-up of performances, visit http://www.bsomusic.org/.
