DSO performs Strauss's "Death and Transfiguration" and music by Prokofiev, October 26-27

- Juraj Valčuha returns to Detroit to conduct DSO and violinist Julian Rachlin, who is featured soloist in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2

- October 27 concert will be webcast for free at dso.org/live and via Facebook Live

Detroit, (October 8, 2019) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) welcomes conductor Juraj Valčuha and violinist Julian Rachlin for a program of Prokofiev and Strauss.

The program begins with Prokofiev’s Suite from The Love for Three Oranges and continues with the composer’s second violin concerto (featuring Rachlin). On the second half, the DSO performs Strauss’s emotional and imagistic Death and Transfiguration.

The concerts take place Saturday, October 26 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, October 27 at 3 p.m. at Orchestra Hall, within Midtown Detroit’s Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center.

Watch Live around the world: the Sunday, October 27 concert will be webcast for free at dso.org/live and via Facebook Live, as part of the DSO’s groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series. The series is presented by Ford Motor Company Fund and made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

One hour prior to each performance, guests are invited to enjoy an informative onstage Concert Talk about the program. These lectures and discussions will be made available for later viewing on the DSO’s YouTube channel.

Throughout the 2019-2020 season, the DSO will celebrate Orchestra Hall’s 100th anniversary with special programming and events, a commemorative book written by former Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker, a documentary series produced by Detroit Public Television, a two-site exhibition created in collaboration with the Detroit Historical Society and Museum, and more. Learn more about the centennial at dso.org/centennial/

The DSO would like to thank the Honorable Avern Cohn and Lois Cohn, Bernard and Eleanor Robertson, DTE Energy Foundation, and Varnum LLP for their leadership support of Orchestra Hall’s centennial, and all Centennial Club members who generously contributed.

The DSO thanks the musicians of the orchestra who will play the Saturday, October 26 concert as a donated service.

The DSO Classical Series is generously sponsored by PVS Chemicals, Inc.

About Orchestra Hall

Built for the DSO at the request of then-music director Ossip Gabrilowitsch during the summer of 1919, Orchestra Hall was designed by noted theater architect C. Howard Crane (who also designed Detroit’s Fox Theatre and the current Detroit Opera House) and is renowned for its historic beauty and perfect acoustics. After the hall’s opening on October 23, 1919, the DSO entered a twenty-year golden age, which included its Carnegie Hall debut, its first records for RCA Victor, and making history as the first orchestra to perform a live radio broadcast concert, on February 10, 1922, from Orchestra Hall. 

When the DSO left for the larger Masonic Auditorium in 1939, Orchestra Hall took on a new life as the Paradise Theatre from 1941–1951, serving as Detroit’s premier venue for jazz, blues, and R&B. The hall was then long-dormant and nearly demolished in 1970 to make way for a fast-food burger chain, before a group of musicians and civic leaders rallied to save it from the wrecking ball and raise money to restore it over the course of 20 years. The DSO returned to a refurbished Orchestra Hall in 1989 and expanded its footprint in 2003 with the opening of the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center.

About Juraj Valčuha

Juraj Valčuha currently serves as music director of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and as first guest conductor of the Konzerthaus Orchester in Berlin. He previously served as chief conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai in Turin, where he made a significant impact on the orchestra’s profile both nationally and internationally.

Valčuha studied composition and conducting in Bratislava, St. Petersburg, and Paris. His made his debut with the Orchestre National de France in 2005, and since then he has led esteemed orchestras across Europe, North America, and Asia. On the opera stage, Valčuha has conducted The Love for Three Oranges, Faust, Elektra, Tosca, Carmen, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, and Bluebeard’s Castle, among other highlights.

Highlights of Valčuha’s work in 2018-2019 included return engagements with the New York Philharmonic, productions of Janacek’s Katja Kabanova and Wagner’s Die Walküre at Teatreo di San Carlo, Salome in Bologna, a tour of the Baltics with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and concerts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Later this year he will appear with the Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Orchestra Dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Orchestra e Coro del Teatro San Carlo.

About Julian Rachlin

Julian Rachlin is a violinist, violist, and conductor who maintains a prominent career as a soloist and also serves as principal guest conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia (Gateshead, England), Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. He also leads the Julian Rachlin & Friends festival in Palma de Mallorca.

Rachlin recently completed a violin residency at the Prague Spring Festival and a cycle at the Vienna Musikverein. Other recent performance highlights include appearances with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov, Filarmonica della Scala and Riccardo Chailly, Munich Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, Philharmonia Orchestra and Jakub Hrůša, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale and Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Lahav Shani. Rachlin recently made his North American conducting debut at the Grand Teton National Festival.

Born in Lithuania, Rachlin emigrated to Vienna in 1978. He studied with Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna Conservatory and with Pinchas Zukerman. After winning the Young Musician of the Year Award at the Eurovision Competition in 1988, he became the youngest soloist ever to play with the Vienna Philharmonic, debuting under Riccardo Muti. He joined the violin faculty at the Music and Arts University of Vienna in 1999.

Rachlin is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is committed to educational outreach and charity work. He plays the 1704 “ex Liebig” Stradivarius and a 1785 Lorenzo Storioni viola, on loan to him courtesy of the Dkfm Angelika Prokopp Privatstiftung Foundation. His strings are kindly sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld.

Ticket Information

Tickets for Strauss: Death and Transfiguration begin at $15 and can be purchased at dso.org, by calling (313) 576-5111, or in-person at the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center Box Office (3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit).

Groups of 10 or more can save up to 30% on the price of a single ticket for most DSO concerts. For more information, contact Group Sales Manager Jim Sabatella at (313) 576-5130 or jsabatella@dso.org.

Performance Details

Saturday, October 26, 2019 at 8 p.m. EDT
Sunday, October 27, 2019 at 3 p.m. EDT

Orchestra Hall at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center

Juraj Valčuha, conductor

Julian Rachlin, violin

PROKOFIEV: Suite from The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33a

PROKOFIEV: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63 (Julian Rachlin, violin)

STRAUSS: Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), Op. 24

About the DSO

The most accessible orchestra on the planet, 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. As a community-supported orchestra, generous giving by individuals and institutions at all levels drives the continued success and growth of the institution. Conductor Leonard Slatkin, who recently concluded an acclaimed decade-long tenure at the helm, now serves as the DSO’s Music Director Laureate, endowed by the Kresge Foundation. Celebrated conductor, arranger, and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik is the orchestra’s Principal Pops Conductor, while the outstanding trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard holds the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair. Making its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, the DSO offers a performance schedule that features Classical, PNC Pops, Paradise Jazz, and Young People’s Family Concert series. One of America’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, Orchestra Hall will celebrate its centennial in 2019-2020. In addition, the DSO presents the William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series in seven metro area venues, as well as a robust schedule of 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 radio broadcast and continues today with the free Live from Orchestra Hall webcast series, which also reaches tens of thousands of children with the Classroom Edition expansion. With growing attendance and unwavering philanthropic support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to embrace and inspire individuals, families, and communities through unsurpassed musical experiences.