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South Florida Symphony Orchestra Presents Shostakovich, Gottsch & Great Opera Arias

Tennessee Williams Theatre 5901 College Rd, Key West, FL, United States
South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s (SFSO) 25th anniversary season continues to shine with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, the world premiere of Ocklawaha by composer-in-residence John Gottsch, and a selection of great opera arias from Puccini, Verdi, and Lara. Led by Music Director Sebrina María Alfonso with guest soloists Catalina Cuervo, soprano, and Adam Diegel, tenor, the Masterworks program is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on January 28, opening the season at Tennessee Williams Theatre at The College of the Florida Keys in Key West. Originally intended to be a grandiose piece that would glorify Stalin’s regime and Russian victory over the Nazis in 1945, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 rendered a more complex, thoughtful, and sometimes carefree composition. The composer was known for his resistance to Soviet rule and his subversion tactics often promising to compose the piece the regime wanted while actually giving it something else. SFSO’s composer-in-residence John Gottsch will present the world premiere of Ocklawaha. The Ocklawaha is a river originating in the lakes of central Florida and flowing north through some of the most mysterious, wild, and breathtakingly beautiful parts of the state. As a young boy, the composer traveled the Ocklawaha with his father, learning the history of the river and surrounding lakes, which brought to life on passing shores, the escaped slaves, Seminole warriors, and a Civil War battle. The musical narrative brings to life the storied struggles of Florida’s Native American ancestors through thoughtfully arranged orchestral movements. John D. Gottsch was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and moved to Florida with his family, shortly thereafter. He spent his youth in the lake country of the Sunshine State traveling extensively and observing natural habitats. These explorations of Florida gave him an enduring love for its beauty and wildlife. He has been a lifelong composer and a number of his compositions reflect his deep appreciation of the outdoors. Last year, SFSO premiered the live performance of Gottsch’s original composition Princess Yurievskaya, and in 2020, SFSO premiered Sunset, both of which were featured on Gottsch’s 2020 debut album released by Naxos Records, the world’s leading classical music label. SFSO also performed Gottsch’s Bagatelles for Violin & Piano as part of its Summer With the Symphony Series in June 2021. His piano suite, Homosassa, premiered in Palm Beach in 2020. His piano quintet, Maryland Hunt, premiered at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Washington, DC in 2018 and has been performed in Philadelphia, Vienna, Rotterdam, and Baltimore. Gottsch, a full-time doctor, now splits his time between Baltimore and Key West. In addition, the program includes a selection of great opera arias performed by Catalina Cuervo and Adam Diegel – Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro,” “Un Bel Dì, Vedremo,” and “O Soave Fanciulla,” Agustín Lara’s “Granada,” Verdi’s “La Donna è Mobile” and “Brindisi” (The Drinking Song from La Traviata). Upcoming SFSO concerts include Brahms, Sibelius, and Berlioz on February 18 and a Dvořák program on March 25. Tickets for the Masterworks II program at Tennessee Williams Theatre at The College of the Florida Keys start at $25. Tickets may be purchased by visiting southfloridasymphony.org/2022-23-season or by calling (954) 522-8445. For additional information, visit southfloridasymphony.org, call (954) 522-8445, or email info@southfloridasymphony.org.
$25

South Florida Symphony Orchestra Presents Brahms, Sibelius & Berlioz

Tennessee Williams Theatre 5901 College Rd, Key West, FL, United States
South Florida Symphony Orchestra will present a passionate evening of masterworks from Brahms, Sibelius and Berlioz on Saturday, February 18, at 7:30 p.m., at the Tennessee Williams Theatre at The College of the Florida Keys. Led by Music Director Sebrina María Alfonso, SFSO’s 25th anniversary season brings Brahms’ final symphonic work, Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor, Op. 102, featuring duo Geneva Lewis on violin and Gabriel Martins on cello, along with Finnish composer Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82 and the spirited overture to Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, to new and returning classical music enthusiasts. Johannes Brahms' Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor, Op. 102, is the remarkable realization of a composer's dream -- to create a new "super" instrument that transcends customary limits. This composition united the violin and cello for the first time. The piece was composed as a conciliatory effort to his closest musical friend and collaborator Joseph Joachim, whom he had a falling out with over Joachim’s divorce. The first private performance of this piece was on September 21, 1887, at the Baden-Baden casino. The public premiere followed on October 18, and the work was performed several more times during that concert season. Jean Sibelius was commissioned to write Symphony No. 5 by the Finnish government in honor of his 50th birthday on December 8, 1915, which had been declared a national holiday. The original version of the work was premiered by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sibelius that day. The second version, only part of which survives, was first performed by the Orchestra of Turun Soitannollinen Seura in Turku exactly one year later. The final version, which is the one most commonly performed today, was premiered again by the Helsinki Philharmonic, conducted by Sibelius, on November 24, 1919. The first version of the new symphony kept much of his familiar orchestral style (consonant sonorities, woodwind lines in parallel thirds, rich melodic development, etc.) but also shows some similarities with the more modernist Fourth Symphony, featuring a few bitonal passages. The 1919 version seems more straightforward, monumental, and classical, and also cleared away some digressions and ornaments. Sibelius commented on his revision: "I wished to give my symphony another – more human – form. More down-to-earth, more vivid." Though his unique and innovative music was championed in Germany, France never fully recognized Hector Berlioz in his own lifetime. Béatrice et Bénédict, his final completed work, would be premiered not in Paris, but in Baden. Composed between 1860 and 1862, this comic opera dates from a difficult period in the composer’s life, but despite his disappointments and increasing ill health, the work is one of his lightest, most delightful creations. The opera’s plot is a simplified version of “Much Ado About Nothing” by Shakespeare, one of Berlioz’s chief sources of inspiration. Beatrice and Benedict cannot stand each other, so on a lark their friends and families decide to get them together through a series of deceptions (the basic outline of the romantic comedy has changed little in 400 years). SFSO’s 25th anniversary season concludes in Key West with an all Dvořák program on March 25. Tickets for the Masterworks III program at the Tennessee Williams Theatre at The College of the Florida Keys start at $25 and may be purchased by visiting southfloridasymphony.org/masterworks-iii-2022-2023 or by calling (954) 522-8445. For additional information, visit southfloridasymphony.org, call (954) 522-8445, or email info@southfloridasymphony.org.
$25 – $95

South Florida Symphony Orchestra Presents an Evening of Dvořák Masterworks Featuring Grammy Winner Zuill Bailey

The Parker 707 N.E. 8th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
South Florida Symphony Orchestra will present a bold and daring evening of Dvořák Masterworks, featuring his love letter to America, Symphony No. 9 in E minor: “From the New World” as well as Cello Concerto in B minor, the greatest of all cello concertos, performed by Grammy Award-winning artist Zuill Bailey - who also appeared during the Symphony’s inaugural concert 25 years ago. Led by Music Director Sebrina María Alfonso, the concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22, at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale. Tickets are on sale, now. Maestra Alfonso and Zuill Bailey have known each other since their days at Peabody Conservatory. Over the years, he has become a frequent SFSO guest artist and a favorite among audiences. He is widely considered one of the premier cellists in the world and is an internationally renowned soloist, artistic director, and teacher. His illustrious recording career consists of over 20 titles. His CD, Dvořák Cello Concerto is listed in Penguin’s Guide as one of the Top 1000 Classical Recordings of All Time. He also won a GRAMMY for Best Solo Performance for his live recording of Tales of Hemingway by composer Michael Daugherty. A consummate concerto soloist, Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras worldwide, including Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Israel, Cape Town, Russia, Hong Kong, Jordan, Mexico, South America, the United Kingdom, and Austria. He has collaborated with such conductors as Itzhak Perlman, Alan Gilbert, Andrew Litton, Neeme Jarvi, Giancarlo Guerrero, James DePriest, and Jun Markl, to name a few. Classical Net calls Bailey “easily one of the finest cellists alive today,” and states that he “commands a simply lovely tone, passionate and full of vigor,” in a review of his Dvořák Cello Concerto recording. In 1892, Antonín Dvořák was recruited to be the director for the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, which opened in 1888 to make music education available to talented students from every background, including marginalized communities and fostering the creation of American national music. In his quest to bring the sounds of America into European classical music, his most famous work was born, the four-movement Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, better known as “New World Symphony.” In the lead-up to its 1893 premiere by the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, Dvořák commented that he thought the core of an American sound could be found in Native American communities and African American spirituals, which you can hear in the composition. Upon its premiere, a reporter for the New York Herald observed that the new symphony was “a noble composition…of heroic proportions.” Cello Concerto in B minor, the most widely regarded and also the last solo concerto by Antonín Dvořák, will be performed by Zuill Bailey. Written in 1894 for Dvořák's friend, the cellist Hanuš Wihan, it premiered in London in 1896 by the English cellist Leo Stern. Dvořák wrote the concerto while in New York City for his third term as the director of the National Conservatory. After hearing composer Victor Herbert's Cello Concerto No. 2 in E minor, Op. 30, Dvořák was inspired to complete a cello concerto of his own. Herbert had been the principal cellist in the New York Philharmonic that premiered Dvořák's "New World Symphony" in 1893. SFSO’s 25th anniversary season concert closer will be Rachmaninoff and Bruckner on April 26 at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale. Tickets for the Dvořák Masterworks program start at $15 for The Parker. Tickets may be purchased by visiting southfloridasymphony.org/masterworks-iv-2022-2023 or by calling (954) 522-8445. For additional information, visit southfloridasymphony.org, call (954) 522-8445, or email info@southfloridasymphony.org.
$15 – $95

South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s 25th Anniversary Gala

Broward Center for the Performing Arts 201 Southwest 5th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
South Florida Symphony Orchestra (SFSO) will celebrate inaugural “Sound of Success” arts and culture advocates who champion musical creativity and innovation as part of its 25th anniversary gala to benefit its artistic, community engagement and education initiatives on Wednesday, March 29, at 6 p.m. at Broward Center for the Performing Arts. The gala will feature an exquisite dinner accompanied by an intimate concert by Grammy award-winning artist Zuill Bailey. SFSO’s inaugural “Sound of Success” honorees from Fort Lauderdale and Miami are John Evans, chairman and CEO and Steven Wozencraft, executive vice president of John D. Evans Foundation, Stradivarius Society; Jackie Grimm, co-founder and former board member, Stradivarius Society; Jerry Laskey, Stradivarius Society; Phillip Dunlap, director of Broward County Cultural Division; Charles "Chuck" Lane, board chair, senior VP/senior relationship strategist with PNC Private Bank; Beth Holland "SFSO Godmother," Stradivarius Society; Wilton Manors City Commissioner Don D’Arminio, Marc Martorana, Mark Turner, and Chuck Nicholls, Stradivarius Society; and Brenton Ver Ploeg, founding partner, Ver Ploeg & Marino, Stradivarius Society. “Sound of Success” is part of South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s anniversary season of firsts. In this milestone year, the growing symphony announced its new Miami home at the Michael Tilson Thomas Performance Hall at the New World Center (500 17th Street in Miami Beach) and received a commemorative proclamation from the City of Miami Beach. Last month, SFSO received a first-time National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Grants for Arts Projects award of $10,000 for its Symphony in the Schools educational initiative, “Preserving Our Coral Reefs.” Since its founding, this signature music education program has reached over 100,000 students from underserved communities and has provided more than $3.5 million in services and resources in the past five years. The esteemed South Florida Symphony Orchestra, founded and led by Maestra Sebrina María Alfonso, also recently made history as the first Partner in the Arts at The Parker, which completed a stunning $30 million renovation in 2022. Tickets for South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s 25th Gala start at $300 per person and include the champagne reception, multi-course dinner, intimate concert featuring GRAMMY award-winning cellist Zuill Bailey, dessert reception and complimentary valet parking. Tables of 10 start at $3,000 and include prime gala seating. Additional ticket packages and sponsorships are available by calling (954) 522-8445 or by visiting southfloridasymphony.org/gala.
$300

South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s 25th Anniversary Season Finale Concert Featuring Rachmaninoff and Bruckner

The Parker 707 N.E. 8th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
South Florida Symphony Orchestra will close out its triumphant 25th anniversary season with a grand finale concert featuring Rachmaninoff’s demanding Piano Concerto No. 3 performed by Svetlana Smolina; along with Bruckner’s choral masterpiece, Te Deum, featuring the South Florida Symphony Chorus and vocalists Elaine Alvarez, soprano; Rehanna Thelwell, mezzo-soprano; Neil Nelson, bass-baritone; and Arnold Rawls, tenor. Led by Music Director Sebrina María Alfonso, the concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26, at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale. Tickets are on sale, now. Born April 1, 1873, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 is considered to be one of the most demanding and beautiful of all of the Russian composer’s piano concertos. The romantic, yet, complicated piece, was originally intended as a spotlight soloist piece for Rachmaninoff’s friend Josef Hofmann, who eventually elected not to perform it. So complex is this piece, that the biographical film drama “Shine” detailed pianist David Helfgott’s quest to conquer the concerto resulting in his ultimate mental breakdown. Performing Piano Concerto No. 3 will be audience favorite and recurring South Florida Symphony soloist Svetlana Smolina. Smolina has performed with orchestras and in recitals, worldwide. Notable appearances include the Mariinsky Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, New York Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Odessa and Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, New Florida Philharmonic, Shreveport Symphony and New York Chamber Orchestra. A frequent guest at international festivals, Smolina has performed at the Salzburg Festival, Hollywood Bowl, Ravinia Rising Stars, White Nights, Maggio Musicale, Mikkeli, Ruhr, Easter, Rotterdam Phillips Gergiev, International Gilmore, Settimane Musicali di Stresa, Michelangeli, Hennessy Artists Series at Hanoi Opera House, The Voice of Music in Upper Galilee, Royal Covent Garden Opera, Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory, Mozarteum, Merkin Hall, Kravis Center, NJPAC, Gulbenkian Foundation, Grand Artists Series in Tel-Aviv and Academia Santa Cecilia in Rome. In addition to her touring engagements, Smolina is currently piano program director for European Academy of Fine Arts / Piano Conservatory (a division of Irish American University) and piano program director of the Philadelphia International Music Festival. Anton Bruckner’s Te Deum premiered in Vienna on May 2, 1885. The composer himself called the work "the pride of his life" and it stands as the composer’s most overtly joyful hymn of praise and thanks. The piece was performed more than 30 times in his lifetime with the first performance in the United States occurring at the Cincinnati May Festival on May 26, 1892 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus and soloists. Tickets for Rachmaninoff and Bruckner Masterworks on April 26 at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale start at $15 and may be purchased by visiting https://southfloridasymphony.org/masterworks-v-2022-2023 or by calling (954) 522-8445. For additional information, visit southfloridasymphony.org, call (954) 522-8445 or email info@southfloridasymphony.org.
$15