The Beethoven Festival, featuring all nine symphonies in chronological order, runs for four consecutive weekends from October 18 through November 11, with a finale November 29 through December 2. The third and fourth weeks of the festival mark Jaap van Zweden's first performances with the DSO as music director designate. (He returns to conduct Verdi's Requiem April 24-26).
The Great American Music programs begin on January 17 with a celebration of the late Leonard Bernstein's 90th birthday. The Corigliano 70th birthday celebrations include Richard Stoltzman in the Clarinet Concerto, Emmanuel Borok in the Red Violin Suite, and Evelyn Glennie in the Dallas premiere of the Percussion Concerto, a DSO co-commission. Other American works programmed this season include Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Copland's Billy the Kid Suite, Barber's Symphony No. 1, Howard Hanson's symphonic poem Pan and the Priest and Steven Stucky's Second Concerto for Orchestra.
Other programs will feature Sibelius's Symphony No. 2, Mahler's Symphony No. 9, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem, Verdi's Quattro pezzi sacri, Debussy's La Mer, and a suite of orchestral music from Wagner's Ring cycle. Former DSO principal guest conductor Gunther Herbig closes the DSO season with Schumann's Konzertst‹ck and Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 May 15-17.
Among the 16 returning guest conductors on this season's DSO roster are Claus Peter Flor, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Jir‹ Belohlšvek, Pinchas Steinberg, Hans Graf and Peter Oundjian. Making their DSO conducting debuts will be Gilbert Varga, music director of the Basque National Orchestra; Markus Stenz, general music director of the Cologne Opera; Ludovic Morlot, assistant conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Douglas Boyd, principal conductor of the Manchester Camerata; and JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Soloists making their debuts with the DSO include cellist Pieter Wispelwey and pianists Ingrid Fliter and Kirill Gerstein. Returning to perform with the DSO are violinist Robert McDuffie, pianists Andreas Haefliger and Jonathan Biss and cellist Ralph Kirshbaum.
Information on and tickets for the Dallas Symphony's 2007-08 season are available at www.dallassymphony.com.
