“The Columbus Symphony’s 2016-17 season will be marked by collaborations and festivals—with Music Director Rossen Milanov” leading eleven of twelve Masterworks programs, writes Nancy Gilson in Sunday’s (2/28) Columbus Dispatch (Ohio). “The season will open in September with a collaboration among the orchestra, Opera Columbus and BalletMet. Performers from all three will be on the Ohio Theatre stage simultaneously…. Also returning will be two Russian Winter Festivals, as well as programs featuring Verdi’s Requiem, a Beethoven marathon, an all-Mozart concert, a klezmer showcase and an East Meets West festival starring Chinese musicians and an American video artist…. A few new features [include] Encores … to be performed at the conclusion of most Masterworks concerts … and general-admission tickets at $20 for selected Friday morning rehearsals.” Initiatives new in 2015-16 that will continue in 2016-17 include free Happy Hour concerts, low-cost Access concert series, lecture/concerts at the Columbus Museum of Art and free music lectures at Ohio State University, and $25 college-student memberships. “Milanov’s dedication apparently is paying off: In a comparison of Masterworks programs—five sets of concerts from the 2014-15 season and five from the 2015-16 season—attendance rose by 41 percent in 2015-16.”
Posted March 3, 2016
