12 guest conductors to appear as search for new music director continues. Sebastian Lang-Lessing to return for two weekends of concerts in role of Music Director Emeritus.
SAN ANTONIO— Today, the San Antonio Symphony announced details of the 2021-22 Classical Season which will include 14 weeks of programs, most led by guest conductors as the Orchestra searches for new artistic leadership after the 10-year tenure of Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing. Lang-Lessing will return for two weekends this season in his role as Music Director Emeritus.
The new season begins October 29th with Jeffrey Kahane – former Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and Santa Rosa Symphony – leading a program that features Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony. It concludes June 4th with a program showcasing the virtuoso musicians of the San Antonio Symphony including concertmaster Eric Gratz.
The SAS will begin its 2021-2022 Classical Season in late October rather than its typical mid-September start in hopes that national and local trends, as well as CDC guidelines, will allow for concert experiences that are comparable to pre-pandemic events.
“While the 2021-22 season should mark a return to normalcy, we hope that it is more than that,” commented San Antonio Symphony Executive Director Corey Cowart. “We want it to be a celebration. A celebration of the enduring power of music, and of the remarkable resilience of our musicians and audiences.”
Guest conductors include Joshua Weilerstein (former Associate Conductor of the New York Philharmonic and current Music Director of Switzerland’s Orchestre de Chambre de Laussane), 2018 Sir George Solti Conducting Award winner Roderick Cox, Pablo Rus Broseta (former Assistant and Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony), current Los Angeles Philharmonic Associate Conductor Paolo Bortolameolli, Kensho Watanabe (former Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra), Jaap van Zweden protégé Ruth Reinhardt, Grand Rapids Symphony Music Director Marcelo Lehninger, Colorado Symphony Orchestra Music Director Brett Mitchell, and Jessica Cottis who has conducted major ensembles in Australia and England.
Several acclaimed piano soloists will appear, including Yefim Bronfman, Kiril Gerstein, Stephen Hough, and Jon Kimura Parker. String soloists include Sphinx Competition winner and cellist Sterling Elliott, and violinists Angelo Xiang Yu, Karen Gomyo, and Phillipe Quint.
SAS concertmaster Eric Gratz remarked, “My colleagues and I are excited for the new season. We are eager to welcome back our amazing audiences – hopefully without restrictions on attendance – and to collaborate with an impressive array of guest conductors and soloists. Some, like Maestro Lang-Lessing, are old friends, but many will be performing with the San Antonio Symphony for the first time.”
Several season ticket packages are offered, each with deep discounts affording patrons savings equivalent to at least one free concert. Subscription renewal packets will be mailed starting the week of March 15.
Symphony subscription representatives will available to answer questions regarding the upcoming season by emailing boxoffice@sasymphony.org or calling (210)554-1080.
Additional information and updates for SAS patrons is available at https://sasymphony.org
The San Antonio Symphony is generously presented by Frost.
2021-2022 CLASSICS SEASON
RADIANT RACHMANINOFF
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, October 29, 2021, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 30, 2021, 8:00 p.m.
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor
Sterling Elliott, cello
ELGAR Cello Concerto
RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 2 in E Minor
TCHAIKOVSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, November 5, 2021, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 6, 2021, 8:00 p.m.
Brett Mitchell, conductor
Angelo Xiang-Yu, violin
MISSY MAZZOLI Holy Roller
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
RAVEL Valses nobles et sentimentales
RAVEL La Valse
RUSSIAN MASTERS
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, November 19, 2021, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 20, 2021, 8:00 p.m.
Roderick Cox, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano
BOULANGER D’un matin de printemps
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 10
BEETHOVEN’S “EMPEROR” CONCERTO
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, November 26, 2021, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 27, 2021, 8:00 p.m.
Jessica Cottis, conductor
John O’Conor, piano
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
NA’AMA ZISSER Island Mantras
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5
HANDEL’S MESSIAH
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Wednesday, December 22, 2021, 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, December 23, 2021, 8:00 p.m.
Lee Mills, conductor
Elizabeth Sutphen, soprano
Daniel Moody, countertenor
Rafael Moras, tenor
Hadleigh Adams, baritone
San Antonio Symphony Mastersingers
John Silantien, director
HANDEL Messiah
BRONFMAN AND PINES OF ROME
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, January 14, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 15, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Marcelo Lehninger, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
GOMES Ave Maria
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
VILLA-LOBOS Dawn in a Tropical Rain Forest
DEBUSSY, orch. Colin Matthews
Two Preludes
La puerta del vino
Les collines d’Anacapri
RESPIGHI Pines of Rome
SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, January 28, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 29, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Joshua Weilerstein, conductor
Karen Gomyo, violin
BERNSTEIN Overture to Candide
CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORGES
Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major
BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique
THE PASSION OF BRAHMS & SCHUMANN
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, February 11, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 12, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Ruth Reinhardt, conductor
Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
DETLEV GLANERT Weites Land
C. SCHUMANN Piano Concerto
BRAHMS Serenade No. 1
DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, February 25, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 26, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Kensho Watanabe, conductor
Philippe Quint, violin
San Antonio Symphony Mastersingers
John Silantien, director
ANNA CLYNE Masquerade
KORNGOLD Violin Concerto
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé
VIRTUOSO LISZT
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, March 18, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 19, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Paolo Bortolameolli, conductor
Stephen Hough, piano
KODÁLY Dances of Gálanta
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1
J.STRAUSS II Overture to Die Fledermaus
R. STRAUSS Der Rosenkavalier Suite
MOZART & MORE
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, April 22, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday April 23, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Pablo Rus Broseta, conductor
Soloists of the San Antonio Symphony
LIGETI Concert Romanesc
MOZART Sinfonia Concertante for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 5
BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 7
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, May 13, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 14, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano
JORG WIDMANN Con brio
R. SCHUMANN Piano Concerto
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7
ROMANTIC CHOPIN
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, May 20, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 21, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor
Federico Gad Crema, pianist
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5 in D Minor
TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY NO. 5
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center
Friday, June 3, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 4, 2022, 8:00 p.m.
Yue Bao, conductor
Eric Gratz, violin
JOHN CORIGLIANO The Mannheim Rocket
STRAVINSKY Violin Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5
*Artists, programs, prices, dates, and times are subject to change.