Leonard Slatkin returns to Orchestra Hall to lead Pictures at an Exhibition and world premiere of Mohammed Fairouz piece, November 15-17

- Tenor Miles Mykkanen joins DSO for world premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s Another Time

 - November 17 concert will be webcast for free at dso.org/live and via Facebook Live

Detroit, (October 30, 2019) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) welcomes Music Director Laureate Leonard Slatkin back to Orchestra Hall for a program including Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, with tenor Miles Mykkanen joining for world premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s Another Time.

Another Time is based on the book of poems by W. H. Auden and marks the third collaboration between the DSO and Fairouz, most recently following 2016’s Desert Sorrows.

The three concerts take place Friday, November 15 at 10:45 a.m., Saturday, November 16 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, November 17 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, November 17 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.

Thanks to a generous grant from the FCA Foundation, the charitable arm of North American automaker FCA US, the DSO welcomes military veterans, active military, and their families to access discounted tickets for the 10:45 a.m. performance on Friday, November 15. See below for more information about the ticket discount. The FCA Foundation and the DSO thank our veterans and active military members for their service.

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 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 Leonard Slatkin

Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

In the 2019-20 season, he will celebrate his 75th birthday year with several of the orchestras he has led over the course of his 50-year career, including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, DSO, and ONL. Other highlights include return engagements with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony in Dublin, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo; debuts with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover, and Würth Philharmonic in Künzelsau, Germany; and three weeks in Spain conducting orchestras in Castile-León, Bilbao, and the Balearic Islands.

Slatkin has received six Grammy awards and 33 nominations. His recent Naxos recordings include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninov, Borzova, McTee, and John Williams (with the DSO). In addition, he has recorded the complete Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO (available online as digital downloads).

A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business. His second book, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017.

Slatkin has conducted virtually all the leading orchestras in the world. As Music Director, he has held posts in New Orleans; St. Louis; Washington, DC; London (with the BBCSO); Detroit; and Lyon, France. He has also served as Principal Guest Conductor in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Cleveland. For more information, visit leonardslatkin.com.

About Miles Mykkanen

Miles Mykkanen is an American tenor who recently completed his graduate studies at The Juilliard School and was selected as a winner of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Mykkanen’s performances have been praised by The New York Times as “focused” and by Opera News as “a knockout.”

Mykkanen makes his Metropolitan Opera debut this winter in the company’s new William Kentridge production of Wozzeck with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He also debuts at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in L’incoronazione di Poppea directed by Ted Huffman under the baton of Leonardo García Alarcón. Highlights from recent seasons include the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night with Minnesota Opera, Ariadne auf Naxos with The Cleveland Orchestra, West Side Story with the New York Philharmonic (and DSO Music Director Laureate Leonard Slatkin), and Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette with the American Symphony Orchestra. Mykkanen has performed the title role of Candide with Arizona Opera and Palm Beach Opera as well as at the Ravinia and Tanglewood festivals.

Mykkanen frequently appears with Steven Blier, Michael Barrett, and the New York Festival of Song, and also has collaborated with Juilliard415, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, New World Symphony, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He is a champion of new music and has given the world premieres of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Twenty-Seven, Jack Perla’s Shalimar the Clown, and Matthew Aucoin’s Crossing.

​Mykkanen is a 2019 Sara Tucker Study Grant winner, youngARTS Gold winner, and the recipient of prizes from the Sullivan Foundation, Toulmin Foundation, Novick Career Advancement Grant, and the Joseph W. Polisi Award. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Cynthia Hoffmann.

Ticket Information

Tickets for Pictures at an Exhibition 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.

Veterans, active military, and their families may use the code HEROES1920 to unlock $10 tickets for the 10:45 a.m. performance on Friday, November 15. The code can be used at dso.org or by calling the Box Office at (313) 576-5111.

Performance Details

Friday, November 15, 2019 at 10:45 a.m. EST
Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 8 p.m. EST
Sunday, November 17, 2019 at 3 p.m. EST

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

Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Miles Mykkanen, tenor

BERLIOZ: Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9

MOHAMMED FAIROUZ: Another Time, A Symphony of Songs on Four Poems by W.H. Auden (Miles Mykkanen, tenor)

MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition 

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.