DSO welcomes JoAnn Falletta to conduct works by Kodály, Nabors, Saint-Georges, and Stravinsky with violinist Augustin Hadelich, April 27-29

April 27-29: Falletta conducts Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto and Chevalier de Saint-Georges's Violin Concerto No. 2 featuring soloist Augustin Hadelich, plus works by contemporary composer Brian Raphael Nabors and Zoltán Kodály

April 29 performance webcast for free at dso.org and via Facebook Live as part of DSO’s Live from Orchestra Hall series; April 28 concert broadcast and streamed live on 90.9 WRCJ in Detroit and network of stations across Michigan

April 28 Chamber Recital: Shostakovich & Prokofiev | String Quartet with DSO musicians at True Worship Church

Tickets on sale now at dso.org

Detroit, (April 5, 2023) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will welcome conductor JoAnn Falletta to Orchestra Hall on April 27-29 for a program on the PVS Classical Series, which also features violinist Augustin Hadelich.

Augustin Hadelich, a violinist whose rhapsodic expressiveness has gained worldwide attention, solos in not one but two works in this virtuosic program for violin and orchestra. Stravinsky’s concerto blends neoclassical clarity and proportion with rich, playful textures. Meanwhile, the Violin Concerto in A major, Op. 5, No. 2 by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, is a delicate work by a contemporary of Mozart and Haydn. Falletta also conducts a new piece by Brian Raphael Nabors entitled Upon Daybreak, as well as Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, a work infused with the sounds of Central European folk music.

Nabors's Upon Daybreak was co-commissioned by the DSO as part of the Amplifying Voices project, which supports racial and gender equity in classical music. Amplifying Voices is a New Music USA initiative, which is powered by the Sphinx Ventures Fund, with additional support from ASCAP and the Sorel Organization. Upon Daybreak imagines the sounds of a utopian world free of hate and malice, and draws inspiration from Dr. Maya Angelou’s “A Brave and Startling Truth.” The program closes with Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, a work infused with the sounds of Central European folk music.

On Friday, April 28 at 7 p.m., DSO musicians Hae Jeong Heidi Han (violin), Will Haapaniemi (violin), Mike Chen (viola), and Jeremy Crosmer (cello) will perform a chamber recital at True Worship Church in Detroit. The program will include Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 10 and Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 1. This performance is free to all Neighborhood Series subscribers. Single tickets are also available and start at $15.

Hadelich & Stravinsky will take place Thursday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 28 at 10:45 a.m., and Saturday, April 29 at 8 p.m. in Orchestra Hall.

The April 29 performance will be webcast for free at dso.org and via Facebook Live as part of the DSO’s Live from Orchestra Hall series. The April 28 concert will be broadcast and streamed live on 90.9 WRCJ in Detroit and network of stations across Michigan.

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.

2022-2023 SEASON DSO SAFETY POLICIES: The DSO no longer requires audiences to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend performances. Masks are optional although strongly recommended at DSO performances, particularly when Wayne County and surrounding communities are in the high or "red" category as defined by the CDC. The DSO asks audience members to do their part to create a safe environment for everyone and encourages those who are not feeling well to stay home.

The title sponsor of the DSO’s Classical Series is PVS Chemicals, Inc. DSO Live is presented by Ford Motor Company Fund and made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Digital programming is produced from the Al Glancy Control RoomThe 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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HADELICH & STRAVINSKY
PVS Classical Series
Thursday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 28 at 10:45 a.m.
Saturday, April 29 at 8 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin
Augustin Hadelich, a violinist whose rhapsodic expressiveness has gained worldwide attention, solos in not one but two works for violin and orchestra. Stravinsky’s concerto blends neoclassical clarity and proportion with rich, playful textures. Violin Concerto in A major, Op. 5, No. 2 by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, is a delicate work by a contemporary of Mozart and Haydn. JoAnn Falletta also conducts a new piece by Brian Raphael Nabors, as well as Kodály’s work infused with the sounds of Central European folk music.
Amplifying Voices is a New Music USA initiative, which is powered by the Sphinx Ventures Fund, with additional support from ASCAP and the Sorel Organization.
BRIAN RAPHAEL NABORS Upon Daybreak (Commission)
JOSEPH BOLOGNE, CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORGES Violin Concerto No. 2
IGOR STRAVINSKY Concerto for Violin & Orchestra
ZOLTÁN KODÁLY Dances of Galánta

SHOSTAKOVICH & PROKOFIEV | STRING QUARTET
Chamber Recital
Friday, April 28 at 7 p.m.
True Worship Church
Hae Jeong Heidi Han, violin
Will Haapaniemi, violin
Mike Chen, viola
Jeremy Crosmer, cello
Hear DSO musicians perform Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 10 and Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 1 in an intimate setting.
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH String Quartet No. 10 in A-flat major, Op. 118
SERGEI PROKOFIEV String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, Op. 50

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About JoAnn Falletta
Grammy Award-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center, and Artistic Adviser of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. Hailed for having “Toscanini’s tight control over ensemble, Walter’s affectionate balancing of inner voices, Stokowski’s gutsy showmanship, and a controlled frenzy worthy of Bernstein,” she is a leading force for the music of our time. Falletta has guest conducted more than one hundred orchestras in North America, and many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa.

Upon her appointment as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major American ensemble. Celebrating her twentieth anniversary with the Buffalo Philharmonic this season, she has been credited with bringing the philharmonic to an unprecedented level of national and international prominence. The orchestra has become one of the leading recording orchestras for Naxos and returned twice to Carnegie Hall, first in 2004 after a twenty-year absence, and again in 2013, as part of the Spring for Music Festival. In 2018, the BPO made their first international tour in three decades to perform at Warsaw’s prestigious Beethoven Easter Festival, where Falletta made history as the first American women conductor to lead an orchestra at the festival. She and the BPO have been honored with numerous ASCAP awards, including the top award for Adventurous Programming. Other accomplishments include the establishment of the orchestra’s Beau Fleuve label, the founding of the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition in partnership with WNED, four successful tours to Florida, and the national and international broadcast of concerts on NPR’s Performance Today, SymphonyCast, and the European Broadcasting Union.

Falletta recently concluded a long and successful tenure as Music Director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Since her appointment in 1991, the VSO has risen to celebrated artistic heights, performing world premieres by such composers as Kenneth Fuchs, Behzad Ranjbaran, Michael Daugherty, and Lowell Liebermann; forgotten gems of the classical repertoire; as well as classics, pops, and family concerts in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, and Williamsburg. Under her direction, the orchestra made critically acclaimed debuts at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall; was honored with an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming; and released eighteen recordings including discs on the internationally acclaimed Naxos label, Albany Records, NPR, and the orchestra’s own Hampton Roads label. Virginians have honored her with a star on Norfolk’s Legends of Music Walk of Fame, the Virginia Women in History Award, Norfolk’s Downtowner of the Year, and the 50 for 50 Arts Inspiration Award from the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

With a discography of over 115 titles, Falletta is a leading recording artist for Naxos. In 2019, Falletta won her first individual Grammy Award as conductor of the London Symphony in the category of Best Classical Compendium for Spiritualist, her fifth world premiere recording of music of Kenneth Fuchs. Her Naxos recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan received two Grammys in 2008. This season, she and the BPO release three new recordings for Naxos, including the world premiere recording of Danielpour’s Passion of Yeshua, Salome by Florent Schmitt, and Poem of Ecstasy by Scriabin, as well as two recordings on the BPO’s Beau Fleuve label: BPO LIVE: Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Fabio Bidini, and Forgotten Treasures featuring five rarely played orchestral works. Falletta’s other recent releases on Naxos include Respighi’s Roman Trilogy, Wagner’s Music from the Ring, and Kodaly’s Concerto for Orchestra, each with the BPO; and Franz Schreker’s The Birthday of the Infanta with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the past year, the BPO also released Built for Buffalo 2, featuring three world premieres, and Treasures of Poland, and the VSO released a world premiere recording of Michael Daugherty’s Night Owl.

Falletta is a member of the esteemed American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has served by presidential appointment as a Member of the National Council on the Arts during the Bush and Obama administrations, and is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards. She has introduced more than 500 works by American composers, including well over 100 world premieres. In March 2019, Falletta was named Performance Today’s 2019 Classical Woman of The Year. The award, which was given for the first time, honors the women who have made a lasting impact on classical music. In June 2018, Classic FM listed Falletta among the world’s top 10 women conductors citing her “extraordinary musicality.”

Falletta has held the positions of Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Phoenix Symphony, Music Director of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and music director of the Denver Chamber Orchestra and The Women’s Philharmonic.

She received her undergraduate degree from the Mannes School of Music, and her master’s and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School. When not on the podium, Falletta enjoys writing, cycling, and yoga, and is an avid reader.

About Augustin Hadelich
Augustin Hadelich is considered “one of the best violinists in the world” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag). His playing combines virtues that are rarely found side by side: the magical intensity of the legendary string players of times gone by is blended with virtuosic perfection, and an artistic attitude fundamentally focused not on the instrument, but on the composition and its style. With his repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the present day, Hadelich is also a media-savvy communicator, whose video tutorials on topics related to violin playing (“Ask Augustin”) are proving extremely popular.

Hadelich’s present standing is the result of a development that has been as continuous as it has been consistent over many years. After winning the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 2006, and initially being celebrated mainly in the US, the violinist (raised in Italy) has in recent years made his debut at all the major European festivals and established himself as one of the most sought-after soloists worldwide.

In 2016, Hadelich won a Grammy Award for his recording of Henri Dutilleux’s violin concerto L’Arbre des songes. Among his numerous recordings–since 2018 as an exclusive artist with Warner Classics–his interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (2021) stands out, having received a unanimously rapturous press response. His most recent release, Recuerdos, is dedicated to moments inspired by Spain in concertante works by Britten, Prokofiev, and Sarasate.

In 2021, Hadelich was appointed to the faculty of the Yale School of Music and, in addition to his international career, continues to give masterclasses, including at Aspen Music Festival, Curtis Institute of Music, University of Music, Performing Arts Munich, and the Kronberg Academy in Germany.

Hadelich plays a 1744 violin by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, known as Leduc, ex Szeryng, on loan from the Tarisio Trust.

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. As a community-supported orchestra, generous giving by individuals and institutions at all levels drives the continued success and growth of the organization. In January 2020, Italian conductor Jader Bignamini was named the DSO’s next music director to commence with the 2020-2021 season. Celebrated conductor, arranger, and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik is the orchestra’s Principal Pops Conductor, while Oscar-nominated trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard holds the Fred A. 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 PVS Classical, PNC Pops, Paradise Jazz, and Young People’s Family Concert series. One of the world’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, Orchestra Hall celebrated 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 live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts, 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.