The Guelph Symphony Orchestra has announced its new season, and new artistic director and conductor Judith Yan.
The five-concert season is themed Tour the World. All concerts are on Sunday at 3pm at River Run Centre.
For Yan’s debut on Oct. 23, GSO performs Russian Pictures, featuring Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (arr.Ravel). Jacques Israelievitch makes a welcome return to the GSO to play Glazunov’s Violin Concerto.
The holiday season welcomes international opera baritone James Westman and features the Grand River Chorus for a European Noel on Dec. 11, mixing classics and festive seasonal music.
Dreams of Vienna, the annual GSO Viennese-style musical extravaganza, returns on Jan. 1 with tenor and raconteur Mark Dubois, along with soprano Corrine Lynch.
Dancers glide across the stage to waltzes, polkas, and marches.
Feb. 19 returns to North America for New Worlds, presenting Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony (from the New World).
West Coast Canadian composer Michael Conway Baker’s Harp Concerto, written in 2004, will be performed by GSO’s resident harpist Andrew Chan.
Canadian composer Oskar Morawetz’s vibrant Carnival Overture gets the concert off to a rousing start. Finally on April 1, the GSO presents French Masterworks, beginning with Roman Carnival Overture, by Berlioz. Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Minor is performed by Sarah Whynot, the winner of the 2011 concerto competition.
Yan said, “Looking ahead, I see a terrific season planned for all of us: each concert an adventurous destination … Joining us are outstanding guest artists, some internationally renowned, others at the exhilarating start of their career. It is a season of excitement and I hope you will join us.”
Yan brings a wealth of international experience to the podium, regularly conducting opera, ballet, and symphonic music in San Francisco, Seattle, Hong Kong, Germany, and Italy as well as having held staff conductor positions with the San Francisco Opera, National Ballet of Canada, and the Canadian Opera Company. She is also music director for the annual opera on the Avalon Festival in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
The orchestra also provides opportunities for young emerging professional performers.
Season tickets are available from June 13 at River Run Centre at 519-763-3000 or riverrun.ca.
