
2019-2020 Subscription Series
November 2-3, 2019
Steven Schick, conducts
Florence Price Violin Concerto No. 1
Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra
Concert sponsors: Betty McManus & Cecil Lytle
December 7-8, 2019
Steven Schick, conductor
Robert Schumann Violin Concerto
John Adams Harmonium
Concert sponsors: Cathy & Bill Funke / Ida Houby & Bill Miller
February 8-9, 2020
Steven Schick, conductor
BRENDA AND STEVEN SCHICK COMMISSION
Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 3
Johannes Brahms Academic Festival Overture
Michael Pisaro Umbra & Penumbra: Concerto for Amplified Percussion & Orchestra
Concert sponsors: Dr. James Swift & Suzanne Bosch-Swift / Dr. Robert Engler & Julie Ruedi/ Judy & Bob Gaukel
March 14-15, 2020
Steven Schick, conducts
Benjamin Britten War Requiem
Guest artists: Ariana Strahl, soprano; John Buffet, baritone; John Russell, tenor; boys choir, San Diego Master Chorale
The cathedral in Coventry, bombed into rubble during the Battle of Britain, lay in ruins for years afterward. For its rebuilding in 1961, Benjamin Britten composed his War Requiem, which splices the poetry of Wilfred Owen–who was killed in World War I–into the Requiem Mass for the Dead. The War Requiem was an instant classic (200,000 copies of the recording sold in the year after its premiere), and it remains an overwhelming experience. And a gigantic undertaking: the San Diego Master Chorale joins us for this work, which calls for three soloists, boys choir, massive chorus, two orchestras, and two conductors.
Concert sponsors: Claire Friedman / Beda & Jerry Farrell / Pat & Eric Bromberger/ Gary & Susan Brown/ Arleene Antin & Lenny Ozerkis
May 2-3, 2020
Sameer Patel, guest conductor
Claude Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Lili Boulanger D’un matin de printemps
Anton Webern Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6
Toru Takemitsu Requiem
Arthur Honegger Symphony No. 3
CONCERT SPONSORS: Stephen L. Marsh / Dr. James Swift & Suzanne Bosch Swift
Guest conductor Sameer Patel returns with works from France, Austria, Japan, and Switzerland in a program that shows the many currents that shaped music in the early twentieth century. Both Debussy and Lili Boulanger died in March 1918: his Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun may be the most revolutionary music ever written, and her gentle evocation of a spring morning shows the promise of what might have been, had she not died at 24. Webern’s Six Pieces for Orchestra are supremely disciplined and expressive music, as is Toru Takemitsu’s Requiem for Strings, proclaimed “a masterpiece” by Stravinsky. The concert concludes with Honegger’s moving Symphonie Liturgique, a search for faith in the aftermath of World War II.
June 6-7, 2020
Ruben Valenzuela, conductor
Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Gioachino Rossini Stabat Mater
Concert sponsors: Julie & Don MacNeil