MUSIC DIRECTOR: TIMOTHY MUFFITT
Founded in 1947, the Baton Rouge Symphony is the oldest arts organization in the region and the oldest professional orchestra in the state. Its programs include a Symphony League, a Symphony Chorus, and the Louisiana Youth Orchestras. The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra also reaches over 7,000 young people per year while conducting numerous education and outreach programs.
The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra’s season consists of a nine-concert Masterworks series as well as a three-concert Chamber Series. The Chamber Series is sponsored by Carole and Charles Lamar. The Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Foundation “Great Performers in Concert” series has brought world-class talent to Louisiana’s capital city for the past ten years. These one-night only concerts in collaboration with the orchestra have featured artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Renee Fleming, Chris Botti, Itzhak Perlman, and most recently, Natalie Cole.
Baton Rouge Symphony programs are made possible in part by: Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge; Community Funds for the Arts Campaign; City of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge; Louisiana State Arts Council, Division of the Arts.
FOR TICKETS, CALL THE BRSO BOX OFFICE AT (225) 383-0500 OR BUY ONLINE AT WWW.BRSO.ORG
2012-2013 Season:
|
|
 |
 | | | GUEST ARTIST: CHO-LIANG LIN, VIOLIN | | | |
Investar Bank Masterworks Series I
Thursday, September 20, 2012, 7:30pm
MUSIC DIRECTOR TIMOTHY MUFFITT
GUEST ARTIST: CHO-LIANG LIN, VIOLIN
SPONSORED BY: LSU SCHOOL OF MUSIC, BATON ROUGE CHINESE CULTURE CLUB, BATON ROUGE CHINESE ASSOCIATION, MERRILL LYNCH
PUTS
Millennium Canons
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
BRAHMS
Symphony No. 1
We open our 64th season with rhythmic propulsions in Millennium Canons by recent Pulitzer Prize-winning modern composer, Kevin Puts. Its rising textures and melodic counterpoint, created through the use of the canon, showcases the orchestra in astounding fashion. GRAMOPHONE’S Record of the Year winner and multi GRAMMY®-nominated violinist Cho-Liang Lin joins the orchestra for the most popular concerto in literature – Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major. Declared to contain passages “almost impossible to play”, be dazzled by Lin’s technical acrobatics in the Concerto’s athletic energy, unabashed romanticism and rousing Slavic finale. Maestro Muffitt and the orchestra complete the evening with a piece that contains one of the most spine-chilling introductions in all of classical music – Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor. |
|
|
|
|
|
 | | | GUEST ARTIST: COLTON PELTIER, PIANO | | | |
Investar Bank Masterworks Series II
Thursday, October 18, 2012, 7:30PM
MUSIC DIRECTOR TIMOTHY MUFFITT
GUEST ARTIST: COLTON PELTIER, PIANO
SPONSORED BY: ADAMS AND REESE, LEWIS MOHR REAL ESTATE & INSURANCE AGENCY
GRIEG Piano Concerto No. 1
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 10
Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor opens with a strong declamation, spanning almost the entire range of the keyboard. 17-year old Julliard student Colton Peltier joins the orchestra, having entered the competition world at age 9. An alumnus of our Masterworks VII guest artist, Christopher O’Riley’s NPR program FROM THE TOP, Peltier has been dubbed “the whole package… a musically gifted player with jaw-dropping charisma that pulls audiences in”. The evening ends with Shostakovich’s epic work, Symphony No. 10 in E minor, replete with extra musical symbolism craftily woven into the complex fabric of the score. |
|
|
 | | | GUEST ARTIST: ANGELA BAGNETTO FINLEY, BRSO PRINCIPAL HORN | | | |
Investar Bank Masterworks Series III
Thursday, November 15, 2012, 7:30PM
MUSIC DIRECTOR TIMOTHY MUFFITT
GUEST ARTIST: ANGELA BAGNETTO FINLEY, BRSO PRINCIPAL HORN
SPONSORED BY: AMEDISYS, BATON ROUGE METROPOLITAN AIRPORT, BANCORPSOUTH INSURANCE SERVICES/WRIGHT & PERCY
SCHUBERT Symphony No. 5
STRAUSS Concerto No. 1 for Horn
and Orchestra
PROKOFIEV Excerpts from Romeo and
Juliet
Classical music’s greatest master of melody, Franz Schubert opens the evening with his Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major. Its heart-wrenching harmonies and jolly themes reveal his youthful enthusiasm and consummate skill, with a hint of emotional intensity. Next, the BRSO’s own Principal Horn player, Angela Bagnetto-Finley is highlighted in the Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major by Richard Strauss. The first horn concerto by a major composer since Mozart, it includes passages that would have been impossible without the invention of the modern valve horn. Become swept away in Shakespeare’s love story with Selections from the Ballet Suites of Romeo and Juliet by Sergey Prokofiev. |
|
|
 | | | GUEST ARTIST: MARA BONDE, SOPRANO | | | |
Investar Bank Masterworks Series IV, "Home for the Holidays"
Thursday, November 29, 2012, 7:30PM
SPONSORED BY: ENTERGY, BASF
Matinee Presentation
Sunday, December 2, 2012, 3:00PM
SPONSORED BY: JANICE & GERALD PELLAR
Encore Presentation
Sunday, December 2, 2012, 7:30PM
SPONSORED BY: OUR LADY OF THE LAKE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, IBERIA BANK
MUSIC DIRECTOR TIMOTHY MUFFITT
BRSO CHORUS, CHORUS MASTER DAVID SHALER
GUEST ARTIST: MARA BONDE, SOPRANO
Begin the festive season with a celebration of holiday music sure to please the entire family. Back by popular demand, Mara Bonde, soprano, joins the orchestra and chorus for all three performances. The evening will include full orchestra renditions of classics and light-hearted favorites. Sing along and celebrate the holiday season in style! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 | | | Artist from left to right: Bulot, Jones, Hendrick and Turregano | | | |
Investar Bank Masterworks Series VI
Thursday, February 21, 2013, 7:30PM
MUSIC DIRECTOR TIMOTHY MUFFITT
BRSO CHORUS, CHORUS MASTER DAVID SHALER
GUEST ARTIST: KRISTI BULOT,SOPRANO; GWENDOLYN JONES,MEZZO-SOPRANO;
MICHAEL HENDRICK, TENOR; VINCENT TURREGANO, BARITONE
SPONSORED BY: EDITH KIRKPATRICK, GLORIA ANDERSON, KAY KIRKPATRICK, LELA MAE WILKES
WEBERN Symphony Op. 21
BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 8
MOZART
Requiem
The all Viennese program begins with composer Anton Webern, whose music was denounced by the Nazis as “Entartete Kunsi” (degenerate art). His Symphony, composed in 1928 is comprised of two movements and moves swiftly with easily discernible variations having their own instrumentation and rhythmic texture. What is not readily obvious without seeing the score is Webern’s use of canon, symmetry and even palindrome. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F major harks back to his earlier symphonies in tribute to his Viennese predecessors, especially Haydn. The Eighth is good-natured, cheery and even humorous – as if Beethoven needed a rest from the tension of his powerful and dramatic Seventh. Maestro Muffitt and Chorus Master David Shaler end the evening with Mozart’s Requiem in D minor. No single piece of classical music has generated as much speculation, rumor, mythology or revenue as Mozart’s Requiem. The composer wrote for both the chorus and soloists as if the future of their own souls were at stake. |
|
|
 | | | Pianist Christopher O'Riley | | | |
Investar Bank Masterwork Series VII
Thursday, March 21, 2013, 7:30PM
MUSIC DIRECTOR TIMOTHY MUFFITT
GUEST ARTIST: CHRISTOPHER O’RILEY, PIANO
SPONSORED BY: LOHENGRIN GROUP
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Capriccio Espagnol
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1
MUSSORGSKY/RAVEL Pictures at an Exhibition
Our 64th season comes to a close with an all-Russian program. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol started as a fantasia for violin and piano before a complete revision, borrowing themes and harmonies from authentic Spanish songs. Pianist Christopher O'Riley then joins the orchestra for Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor. The Concerto consists of brilliant dramatic contrasts, sensuous slow movement, and a fiery, driving finale that requires dazzling virtuosity from the soloist. The demanding flashy fingerwork looks effortless for O’Riley, whose career has stretched the piano beyond conventional boundaries. Maestro Muffitt closes with Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky, orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. The most striking feature of the piece, which is further enhanced by Ravel’s orchestration, is the vivid tone painting, that enables the listener to actually visualize architect and painter Gartman’s work. |
|
|
A Broadway Musical Evening with Audra McDonald
Friday, May 17th @ 7PM
Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Timothy Muffitt Irene W. and C. B. Pennington Great Performers in Concert Series A Broadway Musical Evening with Audra McDonald 5-time Tony winner and 2-time Grammy winner Four seasons on ABC’s hit TV series Private Practice and recent return to Broadway in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. Tickets selling quickly! BRSO BOX OFFICE (225) 383-0500 ext. 100 or www.brso.org |
|
|
|
|
|
