November 11 performance webcast for free at dso.org, YouTube, and via Facebook Live as part of DSO’s Live from Orchestra Hall series
November 14 Chamber Recital: Beethoven’s Late Quartet with DSO musicians at North Rosedale Park Community House
Tickets on sale now at dso.org
Detroit, (October 18, 2023) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will welcome conductor Fabien Gabel and pianist Alexandra Dariescu to Orchestra Hall on November 9-11 for a program on the PVS Classical Series.
Gabel, a celebrated French conductor and frequent guest with the DSO, will lead French orchestral showstoppers including Maurice Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole, Albert Roussel’s Bacchus et Ariane Suite No. 2, and Paul Dukas’s La Péri “Fanfare” and “Poème dansé.” The program will also feature the world premiere of Michigan-born composer James Lee III’s Shades of Unbroken Dreams: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. The work, written for and performed in this premiere by Dariescu, honors the 60th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I Have a Dream"—a speech he famously delivered in Washington, DC in 1963, words that first rang out in Detroit, after a historic march down Woodward Avenue.
French Passions & Enduring Dreams will take place Thursday, November 9 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, November 10 at 10:45 a.m., and Saturday, November 11 at 8 p.m. in Orchestra Hall. The November 11 performance will 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 these performances start at $19 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 DSO will also present community events surrounding the world premiere of Shades of Unbroken Dreams, including an open rehearsal with compositional students from Wayne State University on Thursday, November 9. Later that day, Lee will visit the Civic Youth Ensembles composition class in the Jacob Bernard Pincus Music Education Center at The Max.
Later this season on December 7-9, the DSO will perform Margaret Bonds's Montgomery Variations. Together with Lee's concerto, these two works highlight social progress and recognize the importance of the 60th anniversary of Detroit's Walk to Freedom, the precursor to King's famous March on Washington. On the topic, Lee spoke with Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle, University Distinguished Professor of Music at Miami University, and Douglas Shadle, Associate Professor of Musicology and Ethnomusicology at Vanderbilt University, for the DSO's Performance magazine. Read more about the conversation here.
On Tuesday, November 14 at 7 p.m., DSO musicians Alexander Volkov (violin), Jiamin Wang (violin), Mike Chen (viola), and David LeDoux (cello) will perform a chamber recital at North Rosedale Park Community House in Detroit. The program will feature Beethoven's String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132. This performance is free to all William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series subscribers. Single tickets are also available and cost $15.
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 William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series is made possible by a generous grant from the William Davidson Foundation; WRCJ 90.9 FM also supports the series.
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FRENCH PASSIONS & ENDURING DREAMS
PVS Classical Series
Thursday, November 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 10 at 10:45 a.m.
Saturday, November 11 at 8 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Fabien Gabel, conductor
Alexandra Dariescu, piano
Celebrated French conductor Fabien Gabel leads orchestral showstoppers direct from France, plus a world premiere by Michigan-born composer James Lee III. Shades of Unbroken Dreams honors the 60th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I Have a Dream"—a speech he famously delivered in Washington, DC in 1963, words that first rang out in Detroit, after a historic march down Woodward Avenue.
MAURICE RAVEL Rapsodie espagnole
JAMES LEE III Shades of Unbroken Dreams: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (World Premiere)
PAUL DUKAS Fanfare to La Péri
PAUL DUKAS La Péri: “Poème dansé”
ALBERT ROUSSEL Bacchus et Ariane Suite No. 2
BEETHOVEN’S LATE QUARTET
Chamber Recital
Tuesday, November 14 at 7 p.m.
North Rosedale Park Community House (18445 Scarsdale Street, Detroit, MI 48223)
Alexander Volkov, violin
Jiamin Wang, violin
Mike Chen, viola
David LeDoux, cello
Beethoven wrote his String Quartet, Op. 132 near the end of his life. Completely deaf, he hadn’t heard a sound in years. It was here that Beethoven created transcendent works that DSO cellist David LeDoux describes as “uniquely beautiful gems.” Inside this jewel, Beethoven writes a “Hymn of Thanksgiving to the Divine.”
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132
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About Fabien Gabel
Fabien Gabel has established an international career of the highest caliber, appearing with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Oslo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Praised for his dynamic style and sensitive approach to the score, he is best known for his eclectic choice of repertoire, ranging from core symphonic works to new music and championing lesser-known composers of the 19th and the 20th centuries.
Gabel has performed with soloists such as Yefim Bronfman, Emmanuel Ax, Bertrand Chamayou, Seong-Jin Cho, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Gidon Kremer, Augustin Hadelich, Simone Lamsma, Daniel Lozakovich, Christian Tetzlaff, Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Mueller-Schott, Johannes Moser, Håkan Hardenberger, and Emmanuel Pahud, and with vocalists including Measha Brueggergosman and Natalie Dessay, among others.
Having attracted international attention in 2004 as the winner of the Donatella Flick conducting competition, Gabel was Assistant Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2006. He was Music Director of Orchestre symphonique de Québec from 2012 to 2021 and Orchestre Français des Jeunes from 2017 to 2021.
Born in Paris to a family of accomplished musicians, Gabel began playing the trumpet at the age of six and honed his skills at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. He played with various Parisian orchestras under prominent conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, and Bernard Haitink before embarking on his conducting career. Gabel was named “Chevaliers des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government in January 2020.
About Alexandra Dariescu
Alexandra Dariescu, creator of The Nutcracker and I, is a pianist for the 21st century, standing out as an original voice whose fundamental values are shining a light on gender equality in both her concerto and recital programs, which include championing and premiering lesser-known works. In demand as a soloist worldwide, she has performed with eminent orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Oslo Philharmonic and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and with conductors including Adam Fischer, Cristian Măcelaru, Fabien Gabel, Jun Märkl, Vasily Petrenko, Ryan Bancroft, James Gaffigan, Jonathon Heyward, JoAnn Falletta, and Michael Francis. In 2023-2024, Dariescu opens the season for the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Sakari Oramo at the Barbican Centre. A regular guest of the George Enescu International Festival, she returns alongside pianist Jean Efflam Bavouzet and the Manchester Camerata for Mozart’s double concerto. In North America, she debuts with the Indianapolis and Vancouver symphony orchestras, followed by her return to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of James Lee III’s new piano concerto, in honor of the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The concerto, written for Dariescu, is a co-commission along with the BBC Philharmonic and Orlando Philharmonic orchestras, giving the piece’s UK premiere under the baton of John Storgårds. Further highlights include her return to the Houston Symphony with Fabien Gabel and debuts with the Copenhagen Philharmonic, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz, and Trondheim and Wuppertal symphony orchestras. This season marks the seventh year of her successful piano recital production The Nutcracker and I, with presentations taking place in several cities across the UK, Germany, Belgium, and China.
About James Lee III
James Lee, III, born 1975 in St. Joseph, Michigan, cites as his major composition teachers as Michael Daugherty, William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Betsy Jolas, Susan Botti, Erik Santos, and James Aikman. He graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 2005. As a composition fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in the summer of 2002, he added Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Gandolfi, Steven Mackey, and Kaija Saariaho to his roster of teachers, and studied conducting with Stefan Asbury.
Since Dr. Lee’s graduation with a DMA in composition from the University of Michigan in 2005, his orchestral works have been commissioned and premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, and the orchestras of Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Omaha, Pasadena, Memphis, Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Akron; and have been conducted by such artists as Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas, Juanjo Mena, David Lockington, and Thomas Wilkins, among others.
Lee currently serves as a Professor of Music at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.
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.