SAN ANTONIO SYMPHONY EXPLORES HARMONY BETWEEN MUSIC AND FOOD DURING ANNUAL SPRING FESTIVAL

For Immediate Release: March 8, 2019

Media Contact: Zachary Boeding, Marketing Coordinator 210-554-1066 / [email protected]

SAN ANTONIO SYMPHONY EXPLORES HARMONY BETWEEN
MUSIC AND FOOD DURING ANNUAL SPRING FESTIVAL

SAN ANTONIO— Since beginning with the San Antonio Symphony in 2010, Maestro Sebastian Lang-Lessing has curated an annual festival focusing primarily on the works a specific composer. This year, however, the Maestro focuses on mixing classical music with one of his other passions: food.

The Symphony of Flavors Festival will celebrate the music and gastronomy of Italy, France, and Spain over the course of three weekends from March 28 to April 13. The Festival will bring together local chefs and live performances by the San Antonio Symphony to showcase the city’s rich culture and history by combining classical music and food.

The San Antonio Symphony is partnering with the City of San Antonio’s World Heritage Office to create and host themed dinners, celebrating our UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy designation, on Thursdays before the concert weekends at the Spanish Governor’s Palace in Downtown San Antonio.

The Prix Fixe evening will include a cocktail hour (with amuse-bouches) starting at 6:30 p.m., followed by a three-course dinner at 7:30 p.m. Prepared by local chefs (and coordinated by Pharm Table’s Elizabeth Johnson), the dinners will feature culinary delights from the country of the week. Patrons will be able to mix and mingle with the Chefs during the cocktail hour, and special performances by Symphony Musicians will round out the evenings.

The first weekend will bring Italy to San Antonio in a Tuscan Tour of Taste. The themed dinner, prepared by chefs Tim McDiarmid of The Good Kind, Geronimo Lopez of Botika, and Lucas and Tina Kent of The Bread Box, will take place on Thursday, March 28.

On March 29 and 30, the Symphony will play the Tuscan Tour of Taste concert at the Tobin Center at 8 p.m. Maestro Lang-Lessing will lead the Symphony, and San Antonio native and rising superstar tenor David Portillo in an evening of well-known arias and overtures by Rossini, Mascagni, Donizetti, Verdi, Berlioz, and Tchaikovsky.

The Flavors of France dinner will take place the following Thursday, April 4. The chefs preparing the dinner are Sergio de Remolina, Pieter Sypesteyn of Nola and Cookhouse, and Jeremy Mandrell and Anne Ng of Bakery Lorraine.

Jeffrey Kahane, international piano soloist and conductor, will lead the Symphony in the French concerts on April 5 and 6 at the Tobin Center. Kahane, who will be the featured soloist (and lead from the keyboard) on Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, will also conduct Milhaud’s jazzy La Création du monde and Debussy’s La mer, inspired by the composer’s great passion for the sea and sailing.

The last weekend features the food and music of Spain. A special performance will be given during a dinner prepared by Adán Medrano of the American Indians of Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions (AITSCM), Steve McHugh of Cured, and Johnny Hernandez of Grupo la Gloria, and take place April 11.

The Festival concludes with Savor Spain, on April 12 and 13 at the Tobin Center, conducted by Maestro Sebastian Lang-Lessing. The evening will feature musical selections from (and inspired by) Spain: Bizet’s Suite from Carmen and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol. The concert also showcases 2018-19 Artist-In-Residence and mezzo-soprano Veronica Williams and the Guadalupe Dance Company in a collaboration on Manuel de Falla’s fiery El amor brujo.

After the Saturday concerts, in partnership with the City’s Center City Development and Operations Department, food trucks and late-night festivities will take place on the west side of the Tobin Center on the side porch of the Carlos Alvarez Theatre.

For more information about the dinners, menus, and concert programs for Symphony of Flavors, please visit www.sasymphony.org/flavors.

Symphony of Flavors dinner tickets cost $150 each or $1,500 for a table of eight. With the purchase of an entire table, patrons will receive a free box-upgrade on their Festival concert tickets and a meet-and-greet with a guest artist during the festival. To purchase tickets for the Symphony of Flavors themed dinners, please visit by clicking here.

San Antonio Symphony concert tickets range from $10 - $81, and can be purchased online at www.tobincenter.org, via phone (210) 223-8624, or in-person at the Tobin Center Box Office: 100 Auditorium Circle, San Antonio, TX, 78205.

Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change.

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MEDIA OPPORTUNITY

Review Performance
Interviews with Sebastian Lang-Lessing
Interviews with Corey Cowart, Executive Director
Interviews with Katie Brill, Manager of Artistic Planning
Interviews with members of San Antonio Symphony
Interviews with guest artists

TUSCAN TOUR OF TASTE

Dinner

Spanish Governor’s Palace

Thursday, March 28

6:30 p.m. – Cocktail Hour with Amuse-bouches

7:30 p.m. – Dinner with performance

Prix-fixe three-course meal and Amuse-bouches prepared by Tim McDiarmid, Geronimo Lopez, and Lucas and Tina Kent.

Concert Detail
H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center

Friday, March 29, 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 30, 8:00 p.m.

San Antonio Symphony

Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor

David Portillo, tenor

Selected arias by Rossini, Donizetti, Tosti

Rossini: Overture to La gazza ladra

Mascagni : Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana

Verdi: Overture to I vespri siciliani

Berlioz: Overture to Le Carnaval romain

Puccini: Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut

Tchaikovsky: Capriccio italien, Op. 45

FLAVORS OF FRANCE

Dinner

Spanish Governor’s Palace

Thursday, April 4

6:30 p.m. – Cocktail Hour with Amuse-bouches

7:30 p.m. – Dinner with performance

Prix-fixe three-course meal and Amuse-bouches prepared by Sergio de Remolina, Pieter Sypesteyn, and Jeremy Mandrell and Anne Ng.

Concert Detail

H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center

Friday, April 5, 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 6, 8:00 p.m.

San Antonio Symphony

Jeffrey Kahane, conductor and piano

Ravel: Concerto in G major for Piano and Orchestra

Milhaud: La Création du monde, Op. 81a

Berlioz: Scène d’amour from Roméo et Juliette

Debussy: La Mer

SAVOR SPAIN

Dinner

Spanish Governor’s Palace

Thursday, April 11

6:30 p.m. – Cocktail Hour with Amuse-bouches

7:30 p.m. – Dinner with performance

Prix-fixe three-course meal and Amuse-bouches prepared by Adán Medrano, Steve McHugh, and Johnny Hernandez.

Concert Detail

H-E-B Performance Hall, The Tobin Center

Friday, April 12, 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 13, 8:00 p.m.

San Antonio Symphony

Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor

Veronica Williams, mezzo-soprano and 2018-19 Artist-in-Residence*

Guadalupe Dance Company

Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1

Hidgon: Breeze Serenade from Dance Card

Falla: El amor brujo

Bernstein: Three Dance Variations from Fancy Free

Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34

Bernstein: Mambo from West Side Story

*Sponsored by Carol Lee Klose and Carolyn A. Seale Trust for Women in the Arts

ABOUT THE SAN ANTONIO SYMPHONY
The San Antonio Symphony, established in 1939, is a nonprofit performing arts organization with the mission to delight, engage, and enrich the entire community through excellent performance, education, and outreach. Under the dynamic leadership of Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing and Assistant Conductor Noam Aviel, the San Antonio Symphony gives more than 100 performances annually, including classics, pops, educational programs, movie concerts, and performances with our fellow resident opera and ballet companies. With more than 70 professional musicians, the Symphony serves over 130,000 people per year including over 50,000 students. For more information about the San Antonio Symphony, please visit SASymphony.org.