February 1 performance webcast for free at dso.org, YouTube, and via Facebook Live as part of DSO’s Live from Orchestra Hall series.
Tickets on sale now at dso.org
Detroit, (January 14, 2025) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) continues its PVS Classical Series with Prokofiev & Price at Orchestra Hall on January 31–February 2.
The DSO welcomes conductor Christian Reif, Chief Conductor of the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, for his Detroit debut. Violin soloist Randall Goosby returns to Orchestra Hall for Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2. The DSO will also perform the Detroit premiere of Jimmy López’s Symphony No. 5: Fantastica, in which the composer sonically depicts the experiences of the protagonists of Michael Ende’s novel The Neverending Story. The piece was co-commissioned by the DSO, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, and Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz and dedicated to Christian and John Lukas Reif. The program will also feature Anatoly Lyadov’s Enchanted Lake and close with Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 7.
Prokofiev & Price will take place on Friday, January 31 at 10:45 a.m., Saturday, February 1 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, February 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Orchestra Hall. The February 1 performance will be webcast for free at dso.org, YouTube, and via Facebook Live as part of DSO’s Live from Orchestra Hall series.
Tickets for these performances start at $20 and can be purchased at dso.org or by calling the Box Office at 313.576.5111, open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The title sponsor of the DSO’s Classical Series is PVS Chemicals, Inc. DSO Live is presented by Ford Philanthropy. Technology support comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Digital programming is produced from the Al Glancy Control Room.
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PVS Classical
Friday, January 31 at 10:45 a.m.
Saturday, February 1 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, February 2 at 3 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Christian Reif, conductor
Randall Goosby, violin
"For me, personally, music has been a way to inspire others," says violinist Randall Goosby. The American virtuoso returns to Orchestra Hall with music by Florence Price. Conductor Christian Reif debuts with the DSO, leading a new orchestral fantasy by Jimmy López, "one of the most interesting young composers anywhere today," (Chicago Sun-Times), atmospheric sounds by Anatoly Lyadov, and Prokofiev’s great symphonic farewell.
FLORENCE PRICE Violin Concerto No. 2
FLORENCE PRICE (ARR. RANDALL GOOSBY) Adoration
JIMMY LÓPEZ Symphony No. 5: Fantastica (Co-Commission)
ANATOLY LYADOV Enchanted Lake
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 7
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About Randall Goosby
“For me, personally, music has been a way to inspire others”—Randall Goosby’s own words sum up perfectly his commitment to being an artist who makes a difference. Signed exclusively to Decca Classics in 2020 at the age of 24, American violinist Randall Goosby is acclaimed for the sensitivity and intensity of his musicianship alongside his determination to make music more inclusive and accessible, as well as bringing the music of under-represented composers to light.
Highlights of Randall Goosby’s 2024–25 season include debut performances with the Chicago Symphony/Sir Mark Elder, the Minnesota Orchestra/Thomas Søndergård, National Arts Centre Orchestra/Alexander Shelley, Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Dalia Stasevska, and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic/Michele Mariotti. He joins the London Philharmonic Orchestra on their US tour led by Edward Gardner.
Goosby returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Utah Symphony. He appears in recital across North America and Europe as soloist, as well as with the Renaissance Quartet.
Summer 2024 included Goosby’s debut with the New York Philharmonic with Thomas Wilkins performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, and he returned to Marlboro Music. Previous engagements have included debut performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons, National Symphony/Thomas Wilkins, Pittsburgh Symphony/Manfred Honeck, Seattle Symphony and St. Louis Symphony both under Christian Reif, a European tour with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Seguin, Danish National Radio Symphony/Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Oslo Philharmonic/Ryan Wigglesworth, and Lahti Symphony/Roderick Cox. Goosby made his debuts in South Korea in recital and in Japan with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa/Kahchun Wong performing Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor. In summer 2023, he made his debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival under Louis Langrée.
In spring 2023, Goosby’s debut concerto album was released for Decca Classics together with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra performing the violin concertos by Max Bruch and Florence Price. Gramophone magazine observed: “There’s an honesty and modesty…This playing isn’t dressed to impress but to express.”
Goosby’s first album for Decca, entitled Roots, is a celebration of African American music which explores its evolution from the spiritual through to present-day compositions. Collaborating with pianist Zhu Wang, Goosby curated an album paying homage to the pioneering artists that paved the way for him and other artists of color. It features three world-premiere recordings of music written by African American composer Florence Price and includes works by composers William Grant Still and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, plus a newly commissioned piece by acclaimed double bassist Xavier Foley, a fellow Sphinx and Young Concert Artists alumnus. Roots: Deluxe Edition was released in spring 2024 and features new recordings of music by Carlos Simon, William Grant Still, and Florence Price.
Goosby is deeply passionate about inspiring and serving others through education, social engagement, and outreach activities. He has enjoyed working with non-profit organizations such as the Opportunity Music Project and Concerts in Motion in New York City, as well as participating in community engagement programs for schools, hospitals and assisted living facilities across the United States. In 22–23, Goosby hosted a residency with the Iris Collective in Memphis with pianist, Zhu Wang. Together they explore how the students’ family history can relate to music and building community collaboration through narrative and performances.
Randall Goosby was First Prize Winner in the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2019, he was named the inaugural Robey Artist by Young Classical Artists Trust in partnership with Music Masters in London; and in 2020 he became an Ambassador for Music Masters, a role that sees him mentoring and inspiring students in schools around the United Kingdom. In 2010, he won first prize in the Sphinx Concerto Competition. He is a recipient of Sphinx’s Isaac Stern Award, a career advancement grant from the Bagby Foundation, and the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant. An active chamber musician, he has spent his summers studying at the Perlman Music Program, Verbier Festival Academy, and Mozarteum Summer Academy, among others.
Goosby made his debut with the Jacksonville Symphony at age nine and with the New York Philharmonic on a Young People’s Concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall at age 13. A former student of Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho, he received his bachelor’s, master’s, and artist diploma degrees from The Juilliard School. He is an alumni of the Perlman Music Program and studied previously with Philippe Quint. He plays the Antonio Stradivarius, Cremona, “ex-Strauss,” 1708 on generous loan from Samsung Foundation of Culture.
About Christian Reif
Chief Conductor of the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, GRAMMY® Award-winning artist Christian Reif has established a reputation for his natural musicality, innovative programming, and technical command.
Since 2022, Reif has served as Music Director of the Lakes Area Music Festival, a month-long summer festival in Minnesota featuring the nation’s top classical performers in programming that ranges from opera and chamber music to symphonic performances along with commissioned new works. LAMF believes that high quality arts experiences should be accessible to all and operates on a name-your-price ticket model.
Highlights of Reif’s 2024–25 season include debut performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Phoenix Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. He leads the Cincinnati Symphony in the world premiere of Symphony No. 5: Fantastica, a newly commissioned work by composer Jimmy López dedicated to Reif based on The Neverending Story, originally a fantasy novel by the German writer Michael Ende and later a major motion picture. He returns to SWR Symphony Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia and conducts his own arrangement of John Adams’s El Niño with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Gävle Symphony, and the American Modern Opera Company in December 2024. Reif and his wife, soprano Julia Bullock, also bring Bullock's original program History's Persistent Voice to performances at Lincoln Center and Yale University’s Schwarzman Center in February 2025.
With an equal footing in North America and Europe, Reif has conducted the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, and Kansas City, as well as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Previous season highlights include appearances with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival with the International Contemporary Ensemble. In Europe, he has performed repeatedly with Orchestre National de Lyon, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Hallé Orchestra, and Stavanger Symphony.
Reif enjoys conducting opera and has led productions at Juilliard Opera of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Opera San Jose of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and the Lakes Area Music Festival of Ariadne auf Naxos and The Rake’s Progress.
In 2024, Reif won a GRAMMY® for the Nonesuch Records album Walking in the Dark, the debut solo album of classical singer Julia Bullock in which he accompanied her on piano and led London's Philharmonia Orchestra. The album was praised by Gramophone magazine as “illuminating” and described Reif as providing “excellent support” for Bullock. In 2020 during the pandemic, Reif and Bullock recorded a series of at-home virtual “Songs of Comfort”, ranging from Carole King’s classic “Up on the Roof” to Schubert’s Wanderers Nachtlied. NPR Music featured the duo in a “Tiny Desk Concert” for their special quarantine edition of the series, and The New York Times highlighted them on their “Best Classical Music of 2020” list.
From 2016 to 2019, Reif was Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, after being the Conducting Fellow at the New World Symphony from 2014 to 2016 and at Tanglewood Music Center in 2015 and 2016. He studied conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and at The Juilliard School in New York City. He resides in Munich with his wife Julia Bullock and their son.
About the DSO
The acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. Led by Music Director Jader Bignamini since 2020, the DSO makes its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, offering a performance schedule that features the PVS Classical, PNC Pops, Paradise Jazz, and Young People’s Family Concert series. In addition, the DSO presents the William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series in metro area venues, as well as eclectic multi-genre performances in its mid-size venue The Cube, constructed and curated with support from Peter D. & Julie F. Cummings. A dedication to broadcast innovation began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts.
Since its first school concerts a century ago, and particularly since the founding of the Civic Youth Ensembles in 1970, the DSO has been a national leader in bringing the benefits of music education to students, teachers, and families in Detroit and surrounding communities. The DSO remains committed to expanding its participation in the growth and well-being of Detroit through programs like its Detroit Neighborhood Initiative—cultural events co-created with community partners and residents—and Detroit Harmony, a promise to provide an instrument and instruction to any student in the city who wants to learn. With unwavering support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to impact lives through the power of unforgettable musical experiences.