Dallas Symphony Orchestra To Perform Four World Premieres In Winter/Spring 2025

Grammy-winning conductor Fabio Luisi and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) embark on a winter/spring season that includes four world premieres.

Luisi helms the first performances of works by Pulitzer Prize-winning Native American composer Raven Chacon (Feb 6–9); Opus Klassik-nominated DSO composer-in-residence Sophia Jani (March 6–9); and Sean Shepherd, and who was the Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow of the Cleveland Orchestra (April 17–19).

Recently added to the DSO schedule is another world premiere by Grawemeyer Award winner Andrew Norman, with the performance led by Uzbek conductor Aziz Shokhakimov (April 10–12). Other highlights of the DSO’s winter/spring include the Dallas premieres of Arlene Sierra’s new work, Kiskadee (March 6–9) and Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater (March 14–16); collaborations with starry soloists including Nelson Goerner (March 6–9), Hélène Grimaud (March 14–16), Benjamin Grosvenor (May 15–18), Augustin Hadelich (Jan 30–Feb 2), Leonidas Kavakos (May 22–24), and Conrad Tao (May 1–3); Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony (May 30–June 1); guest conductors Giedrė Šlekytė, John Storgårds, Jaap van Zweden, Jonathon Heyward, and Ilan Volkov; and much more. Most of these performances will also be available for streaming through the Next Stage Digital Concert Series. These filmed performances can be accessed at the DSO’s website.
Spring premieres

The DSO and Luisi continue their longstanding tradition of championing contemporary composers with four DSO-commissioned world premieres next spring. First, they collaborate with Raven Chacon, a Diné composer, musician and artist who was born in Fort Defiance, Arizona within the Navajo Nation and became the first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music, for his Voiceless Mass, in 2022. Voiceless Mass itself will be heard in a concert featuring DSO musicians and conducted by DSO Principal Percussionist George Nickson at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas on February 4. About the new work, Inscription, which premieres two days later and marks Chacon’s first piece for orchestra, the composer comments:

"I am very honored by this co-commission from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and American Contemporary Orchestra. This new work connects ideas I've been working with over the past 20 years in compositions for smaller ensembles, but now contextualized in a full-orchestra format. The new piece represents an exciting integration of these ideas into the powerful context of the full orchestra. Further, It has been a wonderful opportunity to work with different orchestras and gain insight into their unique approaches to intricate extended techniques as full ensembles. I am honored by the opportunity to present these ideas to the various communities represented by these wonderful orchestras, including DSO."

Chacon’s work will be performed on a program with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Bruch’s Violin Concerto, featuring DSO concertmaster Alexander Kerr as soloist (Feb 6–9).

Next, Luisi conducts the world premiere of the new work I Wish You Daisies and Roses by DSO composer-in-residence Sophia Jani – 2023 Musical Artist in Residence of the Arvo Pärt Centre and an Opus Klassik nominee – on a program that also features the Dallas premiere of Arlene Sierra’s new work, Kiskadee, which was commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with the generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. The program is rounded out by Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Argentinian pianist Nelson Goerner – “one of those discreet artists whose career is immense” (Le Monde) – making his DSO debut, and Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel (March 6–9). Jani says:

"I am writing my piece for the DSO at a very special time in my life, since it is the first composition I am working on after the birth of my first child. What really touched me was this immense and infinite love you’re feeling as a parent and how much – and with all your heart – you wish your child a good future. With that came the realization that when you have something so infinitely precious in your life, you also become infinitely vulnerable. So throughout this past year, I had to fight again and again not to sink completely into worries and insecurities. It was out of this energy that I started writing this piece. I think it's one of the most intuitive compositions I've written so far, the result surprised me in many places, and I'm incredibly excited and grateful that I was given the opportunity to capture such an important time in my life in the form of an orchestra piece and that it is going to be brought to life by such a wonderful orchestra as the DSO.“

Two-time Grammy nominee Andrew Norman’s Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra will also be heard this spring in its world premiere, performed by Jörgen van Rijen, Principal Trombone of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Led by Uzbek conductor Aziz Shokhakimov, Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the program includes Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (April 10–12).
 
Finally, Luisi leads the world premiere of Sean Shepherd’s Quadruple Concerto for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and orchestra, featuring DSO Principals David Buck (Principal Flute, Joy & Ronald Mankoff Chair), Erin Hannigan (Principal Oboe, Nancy P. & John G. Penson Chair), Gregory Raden (Principal Clarinet, Mr. & Mrs. C. Thomas May, Jr. Chair), and Ted Soluri (Principal Bassoon, Irene H. Wadel & Robert I. Atha, Jr. Chair). Also on that program is Robert Xavier Rodríguez’s Adagio for Small Orchestra and Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony (April 17–19). Shepherd says:

“The four people who occupy the four principal woodwind chairs sit in the perfect center of the orchestra. The strings hum in front of them, fanning far out to the sides of the stage and their field of vision, and the brass and percussion can lay them flat with this or that explosive moment in the repertoire – from a few feet away, it's overwhelming. But each of these individuals is a major musical contributor, leading their own sections and remaining constantly in musical contact with each other, negotiating tuning, balance, color, with at least one of them providing some solo commentary in nearly every piece of music written for orchestra since the 18th century; they are the intimate personal voice of the composer when it comes to the orchestra. I appreciate it all from my former life as a bassoonist, but I appreciate these players – Dave, Erin, Greg and Ted: all personal friends who I've known separately and originally from musical adventures outside of Dallas – in particular. It's a pleasure to be making a piece for my fab four and for the DSO and Maestro Luisi, and as I write, I'm making full exploitative use out of these delicious soloists and band alike.”

Musical America, in anticipation of the DSO’s recent concert performances of Wagner’s complete Ring cycle, declared that “Fabio Luisi, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s music director and a veteran Wagnerian, is about to make the Texas city a destination for devotees of the German master’s four-opera saga.” Texas Classical Review called it “a truly remarkable event and one that one can hope bodes well for similar operatic undertakings in the future,” while Classical Voice North America found that “the Dallas Ring resembles an enormous, labyrinthine concerto for orchestra, with all the virtuosity and imaginative willpower that implies.” The enormous endeavor was the culmination of many years of planning by DSO artistic staff and leadership and featured a huge orchestra of over 100 players and a cast of more than 30 vocalists on stage at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The star-studded cast list included soprano Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde), soprano Sara Jakubiak (Sieglinde), mezzo-soprano Deniz Uzun (Fricka), tenor Daniel Johansson (Siegfried), bass-baritone Mark Delavan (Wotan), and baritone Tómas Tómasson (Alberich). The staging director for the production was Alberto Triola, who also produced the DSO’s opera-in-concert performances of Richard Strauss’ Salome in 2020 and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in 2022. 

Dallas Symphony Orchestra Winter/Spring

(All concerts take place at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX.)

Jan 23–26
Giedrė Šlekytė, conductor
Erin Hannigan, oboe
Hannah EISENDLE: Heliosis
R. STRAUSS: Oboe Concerto
BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique

Jan 30–Feb 2
Fabio Luisi, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 7 in E

Feb 6–9
Fabio Luisi, conductor
Alexander Kerr, violin
Raven CHACON: Inscription (*world premiere)
BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 in C minor
*Generously funded by the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund

March 6–9
Fabio Luisi, conductor
Nelson Goerner, piano
Sophia JANI: I Wish You Daisies and Roses (*world premiere)
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
Arlene SIERRA: Kiskadee (DSO co-commission; Kiskadee was commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with the generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation)
R. STRAUSS: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28
*Generously funded by the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund

March 14–16
Fabio Luisi, conductor
Hélenè Grimaud, piano
Siphokazi Molteno, mezzo-soprano
J. PERRY: Stabat Mater
SCHUMANN: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 4 in E minor

April 3–6
John Storgårds, conductor and violin
Emily Levin, harp
BEETHOVEN: Romance
Henriette RENIÉ: Concerto for Harp and Orchestra
Keith Jarrett: Elegy for Violin and String Orchestra 
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 3

April 10–12
Aziz Shokhakimov, conductor
Jörgen van Rijen, trombone
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Capriccio espagnol
Andrew Norman: Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra  (*world premiere)
STRAVINSKY: The Rite of Spring

April 17–19
Fabio Luisi, conductor
David Buck, flute
Erin Hannigan, oboe
Gregory Raden, clarinet
Ted Soluri, bassoon
Robert Xavier RODRÍGUEZ: Adagio for Small Orchestra
Sean SHEPHERD: Quadruple Concerto for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and orchestra (*world premiere)
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, “Scottish”
*Generously funded by the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund

May 1–3
Jaap van Zweden, conductor
Conrad Tao, piano
PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 1, “Classical”
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 23
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5

May 9–11
¡Bailamos! A Night of Latin Music
Jeff Tyzik, conductor
Héctor del Curto, bandoneón 
Celina Rotundo, tango dancer
Hugo Patyn, tango dancer
Edna Vazquez, singer, songwriter, guitar
 
May 15–18
Jonathon Heyward, conductor
Benjamin Grosvenor, piano
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 9

May 22–24
Ilan Volkov, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Kyle GANN: Serenity Meditation (after Ives)  
SHOSTAKOVICH: Violin Concerto No. 1 
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”

May 30–June 1
Fabio Luisi, conductor
Sofia Fomina, soprano
Catriona Morison, mezzo-soprano
Dallas Symphony Chorus
Anthony Blake Clark, chorus director
MAHLER: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection”

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