2024 Florida Tour in Gainesville, Miami, West Palm Beach, Sarasota, and Vero Beach features cellist Alisa Weilerstein in Elgar’s Cello Concerto; other works on the tour include Michael Abels’s Emerge, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique”
February 25 performance at Orchestra Hall 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 30, 2024) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will celebrate the conclusion of their 2024 Florida Tour with two welcome-back concerts in Detroit on the PVS Classical Series. The concerts, conducted by Music Director Jader Bignamini, will take place February 24 and 25 at Orchestra Hall and will feature acclaimed American cellist Alisa Weilerstein.
Together with Bignamini and Weilerstein, the orchestra will tour Florida from February 13 through 20, performing six concerts in Gainesville, Miami, West Palm Beach, Sarasota, and Vero Beach. Tour repertoire will include Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Weilerstein as featured soloist, Michael Abels’s Emerge, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, and Tchaikovsky’s final Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique.”
Following the tour, Bignamini, Weilerstein, and the DSO will perform for Detroit audiences at Orchestra Hall on February 24 and 25. The welcome-back concerts will feature tour repertoire including Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and Elgar’s Cello Concerto (with Weilerstein as soloist), plus Mendelssohn’s captivating Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Elgar & Scheherazade will take place Saturday, February 24 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 25 at 3 p.m. at Orchestra Hall.
The February 25 performance will also be webcast for free at dso.org, YouTube, and via Facebook Live as part of the DSO’s Live from Orchestra Hall series.
Tickets for Elgar & Scheherazade start at $25 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. To learn more about the DSO’s Florida Tour and purchase tickets, click here.
The title sponsor of the DSO’s Classical Series is PVS Chemicals, Inc. DSO Live is presented by Ford Motor Company Fund. Technology support comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Digital programming is produced from the Al Glancy Control Room.
The Presenting Sponsor of the DSO’s Florida Tour 2024 is the William Davidson Foundation. Other sponsors include Dr. and Ms. Joel Appel, Penny and Harold Blumenstein, Burns & Wilcox, Joanne Danto and Arnold Weingarden, Mark Davidoff and Margie Dunn, Mrs. Pamela Esser, Phillip and Lauren Fisher, the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, Inc., Nancy and James Grosfeld, Ric and Carola Huttenlocher, Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Jacobson, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard S. Kent, Mr. and Mrs. D. Michael Kratchman, Bonnie Larson, Mr. Daniel Lewis and Ms. Valerie Dillon, David and Valerie McCammon, Ms. Evelyn Micheletti, Ms. Deborah Miesel, Dr. and Dr. Robert G. Mobley, Dave and Christine Provost, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard I. Robertson, Bob and Martie Sachs, Sandra Seligman, Ms. Mary Wilson, and Drs. David and Bernadine Wu. Those interested in supporting the tour may contact Cassidy Schmid, Director of Individual Giving, at cschmid@dso.org or 313.576.5115.
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DSO FLORIDA TOUR 2024:
Jader Bignamini, conductor
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
GAINESVILLE
Tuesday, February 13, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (presented by University of Florida Performing Arts) (3201 Hull Road, Gainesville, FL 32611)
Program to include:
MICHAEL ABELS Emerge
EDWARD ELGAR Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade, Op. 35
MIAMI
Thursday, February 15, 2024 at 8 p.m.
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (1300 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33132)
Program to include:
MICHAEL ABELS Emerge
EDWARD ELGAR Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade, Op. 35
WEST PALM BEACH
Saturday, February 17, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos Concert Hall within the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (701 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL 33401)
Program to include:
MICHAEL ABELS Emerge
EDWARD ELGAR Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade, Op. 35
WEST PALM BEACH
Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 2 p.m.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos Concert Hall within the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (701 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL 33401)
Program to include:
MICHAEL ABELS Emerge
EDWARD ELGAR Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 “Pathétique”
SARASOTA
Monday, February 19, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall (presented by Sarasota Concert Association) (777 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34236)
Program to include:
MICHAEL ABELS Emerge
EDWARD ELGAR Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade, Op. 35
VERO BEACH
Tuesday, February 20, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Community Church of Vero Beach (presented by Indian River Symphonic Association) (1901 23rd St, Vero Beach, FL 32960)
Program to include:
MICHAEL ABELS Emerge
EDWARD ELGAR Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade, Op. 35
Program and artists subject to change
WELCOME BACK CONCERTS AT ORCHESTRA HALL:
ELGAR & SCHEHERAZADE
PVS Classical Series
Saturday, February 24 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, February 25 at 3 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Jader Bignamini, conductor
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream
EDWARD ELGAR Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade, Op. 35
Mendelssohn’s overture starts with four captivating chords, then wham!—the strings take off. Alisa Weilerstein, “the most outstanding cellist to emerge in America since Yo-Yo Ma,” (Classical Voice North America) plays Elgar’s concerto, written in the aftermath of World War I. Rimsky-Korsakov’s showpiece Scheherazade whirls with colossal and dazzling orchestral forces.
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About Jader Bignamini
Jader Bignamini was introduced as the 18th music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in January 2020, commencing with the 2021–2022 season. His infectious passion and artistic excellence set the tone for the seasons ahead, creating extraordinary music and establishing a close relationship with the orchestra. A jazz aficionado, he has immersed himself in Detroit’s rich jazz culture and the influences of American music.
A native of Crema, Italy, Bignamini studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory and began his career as a musician (clarinet) with Orchestra Sinfonica La Verdi in Milan, later serving as the group’s resident conductor. Captivated by the works of legends like Mahler and Tchaikovsky, Bignamini explored their complexity and power, puzzling out the role that each instrument played in creating a larger-than-life sound. When he conducted his first professional concert at the age of 28, it didn’t feel like a departure, but an arrival.
In the years since, Bignamini has conducted some of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras and opera companies in venues across the globe including working with Riccardo Chailly on concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in 2013 and his concert debut at La Scala in 2015 for the opening season of La Verdi Orchestra. Recent highlights include debuts with Opera de Paris conducting La Forza del Destino and with Deutsche Opera Berlin conducting Simon Boccanegra; appearances with the Pittsburgh and Toronto symphonies; debuts with the Houston, Dallas, and Minnesota symphonies; Osaka Philharmonic and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; with the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, and Dutch National Opera (Madama Butterfly); Bayerische Staatsoper (La Traviata); I Puritani in Montpellier for the Festival of Radio France; Traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt (La forza del destino) and Santa Fe Opera (La bohème); Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi; Traviata, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot at Arena of Verona; Il Trovatore and Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; Madama Butterfly, I Puritani, and Manon Lescaut at Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del Destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Ciro in Babilonia at Rossini Opera Festival and La bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Elisir d’amore at La Fenice in Venice.
When Bignamini leads an orchestra in symphonic repertoire, he conducts without a score, preferring to make direct eye contact with the musicians. He conducts from the heart, forging a profound connection with his musicians that shines through both onstage and off. He both embodies and exudes the excellence and enthusiasm that has long distinguished the DSO’s artistry.
About Alisa Weilerstein
Alisa Weilerstein is one of the foremost cellists of our time. Known for her consummate artistry, emotional investment and rare interpretive depth, she was recognized with a MacArthur “genius grant” Fellowship in 2011. Today her career is truly global in scope, taking her to the most prestigious international venues for solo recitals, chamber concerts, and concerto collaborations with preeminent conductors and orchestras worldwide. “Weilerstein is a throwback to an earlier age of classical performers: not content merely to serve as a vessel for the composer’s wishes, she inhabits a piece fully and turns it to her own ends,” marvels The New York Times. “Weilerstein’s cello is her id. She doesn’t give the impression that making music involves will at all. She and the cello seem simply to be one and the same,” agrees the Los Angeles Times. As the UK’s Telegraph put it, “Weilerstein is truly a phenomenon.”
With her multi-season new project, “FRAGMENTS,” Weilerstein aims to rethink the concert experience and broaden the tent for classical music. A multisensory production for solo cello, the six-chapter series sees her weave together the 36 movements of Bach’s solo cello suites with 27 new commissions. After premiering the first two chapters in Toronto in early 2023, with subsequent performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall and beyond, she looks forward to touring all six chapters in seasons to come. Weilerstein recently premiered Joan Tower’s new cello concerto, A New Day, at the Colorado Music Festival. The work was co-commissioned with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; the Cleveland Orchestra, where Weilerstein performed it last fall; and the National Symphony, where she reprised it in May. An ardent proponent of contemporary music, she has also premiered and championed important new works by composers including Pascal Dusapin, Osvaldo Golijov, and Matthias Pintscher. Already an authority on Bach’s music for unaccompanied cello, in spring 2020 Weilerstein released a best-selling recording of his solo suites on the Pentatone label, streamed them in her innovative #36DaysOfBach project, and deconstructed his beloved G-major prelude in a Vox.com video, viewed more than two million times. Her discography also includes chart-topping albums and the winner of BBC Music’s “Recording of the Year” award, while other career milestones include a performance at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama.
Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at nine years old, Weilerstein is a staunch advocate for the T1D community. She lives with her husband, Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare, and their two young children.
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.