The Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and Chorus has announced details of its upcoming season, the 50th for the Fort Myers-based ensemble. Music Director Michael Hall will lead the October 30 opening concert at Fort Myers’s Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, featuring works by Rachmaninoff, Vaughan Williams, and Stravinsky, as well as a commissioned work for orchestra and chorus by Paul Richards, an associate professor of composition at the University of Florida. The latter work will feature lyrics by Rachel Cox, a violinist in the orchestra, who was chosen by Richards following a statewide lyrics contest conducted by the orchestra. Other highlights of the orchestra’s five-program classical series include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”), Haydn’s Symphony No. 103 (“Drumroll”), and the world premiere of a work for flute and orchestra by James Stephenson, featuring Principal Flute William Larsen. On February 26, 2011, the orchestra will re-create its first concert in 1961, featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 (“Unfinished”), and the intermezzo from Kodaly’s Hary Janos Suite.
Posted August 20, 2010
