The Fairfax Symphony Orchestra (FSO) and music director Christopher Zimmerman announced the 2012-2013 season repertoire, with six Masterworks performances 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."
"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. Next season we will feature, for example: John Adams’ Chairman Dances (Mao Tse Tung doing a foxtrot), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 (check out the light-hearted surprises in the last movement), Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks (he finally gets caught and strung up for his mischief-making), Ives’ The Unanswered Question, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, the final movement of which, in one fell swoop, changed the entire perspective of how composers would or could round off their compositions in expressive, emotional terms," Zimmerman said.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS of the season are an all-Beethoven concert featuring the violin concerto, an all-Strauss concert contrasting the music of Johann and Richard Strauss, and a celebration of the anniversary years of both Guiseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, with an evening of opera arias and overtures to end the season. The FSO is also planning two Virginia premieres, a co-commissioned piece to begin the season, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s "Shadows" for piano and orchestra, and Jonathon Leshnoff’s Flute Concerto. Special guest artists throughout the season will include Jeffrey Biegel, piano, James Dick, piano, Christina Jennings, flute, and Benjamin Beilman, violin. As in the past, the symphony will offer free pre-concert lectures by noted musicologists beginning at 7 p.m. before each concert. The FSO will also hold master classes with its world-renowned guest artists, along with open dress rehearsals for students and patrons.
The FSO will continue its commitment to the students of Fairfax County by offering its Student Passport Club. Concert tickets for all students ages 6-18 are always $5, and members of the club receive a stamp in their passports for attending, gifts from local music stores, and special program notes with an activity sheet to accompany each concert.
FOR SUBSCRIBERS, the FSO offers a completely flexible custom series of three, four, five or all six concerts. Subscribers can create their own packages and save between 5 and 25 percent off single ticket prices. Season and subscription information is available on the FSO website, www.fairfaxsymphony.org, or by calling 703-563-1990. Single tickets will go on sale on Aug. 1, 2012 through the FSO’s website or by calling 888-945-2468.
Subscriptions are available now by calling 703-563-1990 or on the web at www.fairfaxsymphony.org. Single tickets for the 2012 - 2013 season are priced from $25 - $55 and will go on sale Aug. 1 through the symphony’s website or 888-945-2468.