California’s Pacific Symphony has announced details of its 2011-12 season, which will open on September 22 with Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, Respighi’s Pines of Rome, James Newton Howard’s I Would Plant a Tree (2009), and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, with soloist Sarah Chang. Season highlights will include the ninth symphonies of Beethoven, Mahler, and Schubert; a new three-year opera and vocal-music series to launch with productions of La Bohème and a family presentation of Hansel and Gretel; and the orchestra’s annual American Composers Festival, whose theme will be the Persian New Year, with Farhad Mechkat joining Music Director Carl St.Clair to lead performances of traditional Persian music and the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s Peace Oratorio, with soprano Hila Plitmann and the Pacific Chorale. Three programs—Mahler’s and Beethoven’s ninth symphonies, and the Danielpour oratorio—will be part of the orchestra’s “Music Unwound” concert evenings, which feature multimedia and other enhancements designed to enrich the concert experience, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Posted February 25, 2011
