The Chelsea Symphony Announces 2023/24 Season

Artistic Director Matthew Aubin kicks off TCS's 18th season with the US premiere of Les Eaux célestes (Celestial Waters), a sparkling work by the dynamic young composer Camille Pépin. Each evening features a dazzling violin concerto: Sergei Prokofiev's Second Concerto on Friday, and a rarely heard gem by the nineteenth-century Swedish composer Amanda Maier-Röntgen on Saturday. Béla Bartók's magisterial Concerto for Orchestra, a virtuosic tour de force, anchors the program.

October 27 and 28, 2023: Reveries

Conductor Reuben Blundell directs an evocative program from the late Romantic era. Johannes Brahms's Third Symphony, a work of remarkable emotional subtlety, draws inspiration from the composer's motto Frei aber froh (“Free but happy”). Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Ballade in A Minor, written when the composer was in his early twenties, juxtaposes vigor and lyricism. Friday's program features Edouard Lalo's dramatic Cello Concerto; Saturday's concert includes the enchanting Flute Concerto by Carl Reinecke.

 

December 1, 2023: Holiday

As the year nears its end, The Chelsea Symphony returns home to its roots, performing light classical and holiday pops favorites from its repertoire. Camille Saint-Saëns' Havanaise, Op.83 will open the evening and will feature soloist Aviv Zalcenstein. Closing out the night are two long-standing TCS traditions: Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride led by a raffle winner, and Aaron Dai's The Night Before Christmas, featuring a special guest narrator. Last year's concert went viral. This is not an evening to miss.

 

January 19 and 20, 2024: Heritage

TCS Artistic Director Mark Seto leads a program that celebrates the cultural heritage of the Americas. Florence Price's groundbreaking Third Symphony synthesizes European and Black American musical traditions. Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra by Gabriela Lena Frank is a brilliant evocation of a spirit from Andean Peru. A new Concerto for two cellos by Michael Boyman rounds out the program.

 

March 8 and 9, 2024: Transcendence

Conductor Laureate and Co-Founder Yaniv Segal returns to TCS for a program that captures the outer reaches of the human experience. The Prelude and Liebestod (“Love-Death”) from Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde explores metaphysical ideas through trailblazing musical sonorities. Gustav Mahler's Totenfeier (Funeral Rites) eventually became the opening movement of his monumental Second Symphony. Artistic Director Matthew Aubin directs a trio of mid-century concertos and a new work by TCS's soon to be named Composition Fellow.

May 17 and 18, 2024: Idyllic Echoes

Ludwig van Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is an ebullient celebration of rhythm: Richard Wagner described the piece as "the apotheosis of dance." A Walk to Beethoven by Britta Byström draws inspiration from, and introduces, the elder composer's Seventh. The Friday concert features the Flute Concerto by New Yorker and TCS favorite Eric Ewazen. Saturday's program includes a cornerstone of the viola repertoire by the pioneering composer Rebecca Clarke.

 

June 14 and 15, 2024: Rhythm and Colors

TCS's season finale features vibrant Latin American idioms in Leonard Bernstein's beloved Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and Gabriela Ortiz's exuberant Kauyumari. In celebration of Pride, each performance showcases a concerto by an iconic contemporary American composer: Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto on Friday, and John Corigliano's Clarinet Concerto on Saturday.

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Offering seven weekend concert series from September 2023 through June 2024, The Chelsea Symphony's 2023/24 season ties together powerful orchestral works across time and space.

Premium unassigned seating in special reserved areas is available for sale on Eventbrite.

Limited day-of tickets are available at the door for a suggested donation of $20.

For more information, interview inquiries, and press tickets contact our team at marketing@chelseasymphony.org.

Listing Information

Celestial Waters
Friday, September 22 at 8pm
Saturday, September 23 at 8pm
The Chelsea Symphony
Conducted by Matthew Aubin
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music (450 West 37th Street)
$30 reserved premium general seating on sale at Eventbrite
$20 suggested donation seating available at the door

Camille Pépin:  Les Eaux célestes (US premiere)
Sergei Prokofiev:  Violin Concerto No.2 in G minor, Op.63, Inna Lnagerman, violin (Friday only)
Amanda Maier-Röntgen:  Violin Concerto in D minor, Juliana Pereira, violin (Saturday only)
Béla Bartók:  Concerto for Orchestra, BB 123

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Reveries
Saturday, October 27 at 8pm
Sunday, October 28 at 8pm
The Chelsea Symphony
Conducted by Reuben Blundell
St. Paul's Church (315 West 22nd Street)
$30 reserved premium general seating on sale at Eventbrite
$20 suggested donation seating available at the door

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor:  Ballade in A Minor
Edouard Lalo:  Cello Concerto in D minor, Christopher Kingdon Schrade James, cello (Friday only)
Carl Reinecke:  Flute Concerto in D Major, op. 283, Sarah Abrams, flute (Saturday only)
Johannes Brahms:  Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op.90

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Holiday
Friday, December 1 at 8pm
The Chelsea Symphony
Conducted by Mark Seto and Matthew Aubin
St. Paul's Church (315 West 22nd Street)
$30 reserved premium general seating on sale at Eventbrite
$20 suggested donation seating available at the door 

Camille Saint-Saëns:  Havanaise, Op.83, Aviv Zalcenstein, violin
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a
Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride
Aaron Dai: The Night Before Christmas

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Heritage
Friday, January 19 at 8pm
Saturday, January 20 at 8pm
The Chelsea Symphony
Conducted by Mark Seto
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music (450 West 37th Street)
$30 reserved premium general seating on sale at Eventbrite
$20 suggested donation seating available at the door

Gabriela Lena Frank:  Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra
Mike Boyman:  World Premiere, Sue Rangeley and Jennifer Shaw, cello
Florence Price:  Symphony No. 3

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Transcendence
Friday, March 8 at 8pm
Saturday, March 9 at 8pm
The Chelsea Symphony
Conducted by Matthew Aubin and Yaniv Segal
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music (450 West 37th Street)
$30 reserved premium general seating on sale at Eventbrite
$20 suggested donation seating available at the door

TCS Composition Fellow (TBA):  New Work
Fernande Decruck:  Concerto for Harp and Orchestra, Mvts 1 & 2, Liann Cline, harp (Friday only)
Henri Tomasi:  Concerto for Trombone, Mike Mulligan, trombone (Saturday only)
Grace Williams:  Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra, Kevin Barnes, trumpet (Saturday only)
Richard Wagner:  Prelude from Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90
Gustav Mahler:  Totenfeier
Richard Wagner:  Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90

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Idyllic Echoes
Friday, May 17 at 8pm
Saturday, May 18 at 8pm
The Chelsea Symphony
Conducted by TCS Conducting Fellow (TBA) and Mark Seto
St. Paul's Church (315 West 22nd Street)
$30 reserved premium general seating on sale at Eventbrite
$20 suggested donation seating available at the door

Britta Byström:  A Walk to Beethoven
Eric Ewazen:  Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra, Jackie Traish, flute (Friday only)
Rebecca Clarke (arr. Ruth Lomon):  Viola Sonata, Rebecca Chaqor, viola (Saturday only)
Ludwig van Beethoven:  Symphony No. 7, Op. 92

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Rhythm and Colors
Friday, June 14 at 8pm
Saturday, June 15 at 8pm
The Chelsea Symphony
Conducted by Matthew Aubin and Mark Seto
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music (450 West 37th Street)
$30 reserved premium general seating on sale at Eventbrite
$20 suggested donation seating available at the door

Gabriela Ortiz:  Kauyumari
Jennifer Higdon:  Percussion Concerto, Tyler Hefferon, percussion (Friday only)
John Corigliano:  Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, Eric Schultz, clarinet (Saturday only)
Leonard Bernstein:  Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

About The Chelsea Symphony

The Chelsea Symphony, hailed as an “enterprising group of young musicians" by Time Out and "New York's most intimate orchestral experience" by Lucid Culture, upends the traditional hierarchy of the classical orchestra: members rotate as featured soloists, conductors, and composers. The self-governing ensemble is a cultural focus for Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and presents vibrant concerts of inspiring symphonic music both old and new. From the American Museum of Natural History to the Amazon Original Series Mozart in the Jungle, the orchestra—now in its seventeenth season—remains committed to its focus on professional development, inclusive and relevant programming, and a commitment to music by living composers. In recent years, TCS has worked to expand its reach by providing accessible concerts for inmates on Rikers Island in partnership with the NYC Department of Correction, as well as a free and informal chamber music series at Chelsea Market.