Brazilian Conductor Simone Menezes to Make Detroit ​​​​​​​Symphony Orchestra Debut

Acclaimed Brazilian conductor Simone Menezes will make her Detroit Symphony Orchestra debut in a trio of concerts held between Thursday, April 18 and Sunday, April 21, 2024. As part of the DSO's William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series, the performances will take place at venues in the Metro Detroit communities of Southfield, Monroe, and Beverly Hills, respectively: Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 7:30pm at Congregation Shaarey Zedek; Friday, April 19, 2024 at 8:00pm at La-Z-Boy Center - Meyer Theater on the Monroe County Community College campus; and Sunday, April 21, 2024 at 3:00pm at the Seligman Performing Arts Center on the Detroit Country Day School campus.

Based in France, where she is founder and director of chamber orchestra Ensemble K, Menezes is celebrated across Europe, South America, and elsewhere. Her guest-conducting engagements have included appearances with Radio Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Osaka Symphony Orchestra and Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, among many others. In 2023, she made her U.S. conducting debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Her Detroit engagement marks her first return to U.S. stages since her debut.

In this program, Ravel's Mother Goose, Menezes leads the DSO alongside 21-year-old British pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, also making her DSO debut as soloist on Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23. The multi-award-winning Kanneh-Mason - one of seven famously accomplished musical siblings - has been named one of Classic FM's "Rising Stars" and made her BBC Proms debut in 2021. The program also includes Ravel's fairy tale-inspired Suite from Ma mère l'oye ("Mother Goose") and Jacques Ibert's Hommage à Mozart, composed in 1955 for the bicentennial of Mozart's birth. Completing the program is Heitor Villa-Lobos' Sinfonietta, also a tribute to Mozart based on two of the earlier composer's themes. The Brazilian-born Villa-Lobos has figured significantly into previous work by Menezes, who conducted Philharmonia Zürich and soprano Camila Provenzale in his work Floresta Do Amazonas for her 2023 album Amazônia (Alpha Classics).

Pairing Villa-Lobos' work with Philip Glass's piece Aguas da Amazonia, the Amazônia album represented the capstone to a multimedia touring project created by Menezes with Brazilian social documentary photographer and photojournalist Sebastião Salgado, combining musical selections with striking images of the Amazon Rainforest. Among her other 2023/24 season highlights, Menezes appears as a guest conductor with the BBC Scottish Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Colburn School LA, Brussels Philharmonic, Zürich Opera alongside Paavo Järvi, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Tampere Philharmonic, Estonian National Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National España, and Concert Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira.

Program Information

Ravel's Mother Goose
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series
Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 7:30pm at Congregation Shaarey Zedek (27375 Bell Road, Southfield, MI)
Friday, April 19, 2024 at 8:00pm at La-Z-Boy Center - Meyer Theater on the Monroe County Community College campus (1555 S. Raisinville Road, Monroe, MI)
Sunday, April 21, 2024 at 3:00pm at the Seligman Performing Arts Center on the Detroit Country Day School campus (22305 W. 13 Mile Road, Beverly Hills, MI)
Link: www.dso.org/events-and-tickets/events/23-24-spring/ravels-mother-goose

Program:
Ibert - Hommage à Mozart
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488
Villa-Lobos - Sinfonietta
Ravel - Suite from Ma mère l'oye (Mother Goose)

Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Simone Menezes, conductor
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, piano

About Simone Menezes

Brazilian conductor Simone Menezes is known for her creative vision and innovative spirit, insightfully combining classical and contemporary repertoire. Based in France, she is founder and director of Ensemble K, a chamber music orchestra known for its cosmopolitan vision of classical music and high-level creative collaborations across music and the arts. Also a coveted guest conductor among many of the world's most respected orchestras, Menezes has established herself as a one-of-a-kind artist with a still-rising international profile.

In a high point of her upcoming appearances, Menezes makes her U.S. debut at the Hollywood Bowl on August 29, 2023, conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in "Beethoven at the Bowl." Among her 2023/24 season highlights, Menezes appears as a guest conductor with the BBC Scottish Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Colburn School LA, Brussels Philharmonic, Zurich Opera, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Tampere Philharmonic, Estonian National Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, and The Philharmonia, among others.

In Fall 2023, Alpha Classics releases Menezes' collaborative album Amazonia, the capstone to a project celebrating the music of Philip Glass and the great Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. In a second upcoming release, Menezes collaborates with acclaimed pianist François-Xavier Poizat and London's Philharmonia Orchestra on an album of Ravel's piano concertos.

Among several previous acclaimed recordings, Menezes' audiovisual documentary Metanoia earned the award for best video in the "Performance & Documentaries" category at the 2023 International Classical Music Awards.

Over the course of her career, Menezes has been invited to conduct ensembles including the Radio Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Santa Cecilia, Osaka Symphony Orchestra and Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra. She has premiered more than 20 works. From 2008 to 2012, Menezes was Music Director of the São Paulo-based Unicamp Symphony Orchestra, becoming only the second woman to hold a titled conducting position with a major orchestra in Brazil.

Menezes first studied conducting in her native São Paulo, going on to found her first orchestra, the Camerata Latino Americana, at the age of 20. She continued her conducting studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, where she graduated after only one year. Her mentors include the Estonian-American conductor Paavo Järvi and Brazilian violinist and conductor Claudio Cruz. Learn more at www.simonemenezes.com.

Photo credit: Daniela Cerasoli

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