On Sept. 22, the Fairfax Symphony will open its season with a concert at 8 p.m. at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax. The season will mark the beginning of a new three-year focus in programming called “Mischief in Music: Wit, Insolence and Insurrection.” As explained by Maestro Christopher Zimmerman, “So often symphonic music is regarded as something abstract and emotionally unspecific. Over the next three years the orchestra will play music by a variety of composers whose message and expressive aims are deliberate, be they light-hearted, semi-provocative or completely out of the box.”
Ticket Information
Single ticket prices for adults range from $25-$55.
Student tickets (ages 6-18) are $5 at the door.
Program notes, directions to the concert hall and information about the FSO and its education and outreach programs, also may be found at www.fairfaxsymphony….
The All-American concert program includes Adam’s The Chairman Dances, Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from “On the Town,” Gershwin’s Piano Concerto, and the East Coast premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize winner composer Ellen Taafe Zwilich, Shadows for Piano and Orchestra. The guest artist, for whom Zwilich composed the work, is Jeffrey Biegel, pianist.
A free, pre-concert lecture will be held beginning at 7 p.m. in the GMU Center for the Arts, presented by Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Biegel.
Jeffrey Biegel is one of today's most respected artists, having created a multi-faceted career as a pianist, recording artist, composer and arranger. Ellen Taafe Zwilich is the recipient of numerous prizes and honors, including the 1983 Pulitzer Prize in Music (the first woman ever to receive this coveted award), the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Chamber Music Prize, the Arturo Toscanini Music Critics Award, the Ernst von Dohnányi Citation, an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, 4 Grammy nominations, the Alfred I. Dupont Award, Miami Performing Arts Center Award, the Medaglia d'oro in the J.B. Viotti Competition, and the NPR and WNYC Gotham Award for her contributions to the musical life of New York City.