New World Symphony October Concerts to Feature Beloved Favorites And Modern Masterworks

Following a sold-out season-opener concert on September 16, 2023, marking the beginning of Stéphane Denève's inaugural season as Artistic Director, New World Symphony embarks on an exciting month this October featuring the return of prestigious alumni and esteemed guests joining for performances of beloved favorites and modern masterworks, as well as the much-anticipated return of the WALLCAST Concerts in SoundScape Park.

Chamber Music Series Welcomes NWS Alumni

October 8, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.
New World Symphony's chamber music series opens with a musical homecoming as NWS Fellows and Stéphane Denève are joined by select NWS alumni, who now total nearly 1,250 and perform in over 30 countries around the globe. The program includes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's cherished masterpiece Serenade No. 10, "Gran Partita,” Olly Wilson's spirituals-infused and Boogie-Woogie-inspired A City Called Heaven, and Romanian composer George Enescu's Second Piano Quartet, dedicated to the memory of Gabriel Fauré. NWS Alumni musicians include Brad Whitfield, clarinet; Alexander Kienle, horn; and Kuang-Hao Huang, piano. Brad Whitfield, native of Birmingham, Alabama, is currently the Assistant Principal/Second Clarinet of the Alabama Symphony; a native of Portland, Oregon, Alexander Kienle has performed as the Assistant Principal/Utility Horn at the Dallas Symphony since 2014; and Chicagoan Kuang-Hao Huang is a highly sought-after collaborative pianist whose performances have taken him throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. A strong advocate of new music, Huang is a core member of Fulcrum Point New Music Project and Picosa.

This is not the first time that NWS Alumni have returned to New World Center this season. On Sept. 22 - 24, 2023, New World Symphony welcomed alumni from all over North America and beyond back to Miami Beach for the institution's first alumni homecoming weekend. Attendees included Fellows from across NWS's 36-year history who participated in side-by-side reading rehearsals with current Fellows, discussions on the digital future of orchestral music with NWS President and CEO Howard Herring and Vice President and Creative Director of NWS Media Clyde Scott; tours of New World Center; and chamber music readings.
 

Denève: Prokofiev's Romeo + Juliet

October 14, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.October 15, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.

Artistic Director Stéphane Denève returns for an emotional concert that explores true love and poetry. Step into the world of passion, drama, and timeless romance as Prokofiev's Suite from Romeo and Juliet paints a vivid musical portrait of Shakespeare's iconic love story. Soprano Kelley O'Connor—whose past NWS performance was hailed a “tour de force” by South Florida Classical Review—returns for one of Denève's favorite works: Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs, settings of five sonnets written by Chilean-born Pablo Neruda, composed for Lieberson's wife, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who sadly passed away in 2006, shortly after this work was completed. Composer James Lee III's Visions of Cahokia, performed with visual elements, conjures the historic indigenous metropolis of Cahokia, accompanied by visuals. The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra commissioned this piece, and it was premiered by Stéphane Denève and the orchestra in January 2023.

The Saturday, October 14 concert also marks the season's first WALLCAST Concert in SoundScape Park. New World Symphony WALLCAST concerts allow guests to experience live classical music performances throughout the season at SoundScape Park through a striking use of visual and audio technology on the soaring, 7,000-square-foot projection wall of the New World Center. Additional WALLCAST concerts will be announced soon.
In addition, the Saturday, October 14 concert will be the first live webcast of the season, kicking off the second year of NWS Inside, an innovative digital membership program that brings NWS into homes around the world. Inside members will enjoy 12 concert live streams with on-demand access, behind-the-scenes features with premier international guest artists and NWS Fellows, archival concerts, bonus content, and more. Details and a seven-day free trial available at www.nws.edu./inside.  
 

Dances from West Side Story/Billy Childs' Diaspora

October 21, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
New World Symphony returns to the Adrienne Arsht Center with Emmy Award-winning conductor Miguel-Harth Bedoya for a toe-tapping, jazz-infused evening that's fun for the whole family. Get swept away by the romance and drama of Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Explore the intersection of jazz and classical music as saxophonist Steven Banks takes the stage for Billy Childs' Diaspora, a moving concerto dedicated to the Black experience in America. Also featured on the program is Fiesta!, four Latin, Afro-Peruvian and pop music-inspired dances by Jimmy López Bellido.
Billy Childs' Diaspora, co-commissioned by New World Symphony, is a significant work that explores themes of migration, cultural identity, and the interconnectedness of diverse musical traditions. Childs draws on his own experiences and multicultural influences to create a musical narrative that reflects the complexities of cultural displacement and the search for a sense of belonging. Childs' Diaspora is a sweeping tone poem spanning the African American experience. The work opens in Africa with “Motherland,” which moves into the slave trade (“If We Must Die”) and finally to the hopeful “And Still I Rise” in present-day America. Childs took his inspiration from poets Nayyirah Waheed, Claude McKay, and Maya Angelou.

Saxophonist Steven Banks is dedicated to elevating his instrument within the classical music world. He is driven to program and write music that directly addresses aspects of the human experience and is an active and intentional supporter of diverse voices in the future of concert music. In fact, it was Banks who reached out to Childs about creating a concerto for saxophone Banks performed the world premiere of Diaspora with the Kansas City Symphony on February 10, 2023.

Cage, Ligeti, and Ortiz

October 27, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
Combine music and mixology during this relaxed concert dedicated to visionary new music. Experience something new as Percussion Fellows share music by some of the most imaginative composers of the last century. Grab a themed cocktail or mocktail to enjoy while listening to Liquid Borders—a utopian reflection on Mexico by one of its leading composers, Gabriela Ortiz. Hungarian mezzo-soprano Katalin Károlyi returns for György Ligeti's With Pipes, Drums, Fiddles—his final work inspired by the fanciful poems by Sándor Weöres. Allison Loggins-Hull's Hammers is a feverish mix of solo flute and percussion, while John Cage experiments with unusual instruments to create a metallic soundscape in First Construction (In Metal).
 

Concert for Kids: Tricks and Treats

October 29, 2023 at 11:30 a.m.

Families will enjoy a spooktacular afternoon at the New World Center for Tricks and Treats—NWS's first Concert for Kids program of the season. Conducting Fellow Molly Turner brings the goosebumps with scary-good musical favorites. Costumes encouraged for all! Doors open at 10:00 a.m. for pre-concert activities by community partners and an opportunity to meet the NWS Fellows. Concerts for Kids are designed for young ones—ages four to nine—in mind.

The NWS Fellowship Experience

The New World Symphony is a global leader in orchestral and artistic training. Talented musicians, aged typically between 22-30, are awarded three-year fellowships that consist of a robust curriculum of musical, entrepreneurial and community engagement training. Each season, Fellows are mentored by over 250 visiting faculty members and guest artists, and design and execute their own entrepreneurial projects. Approximately 87 Fellows in various stages of their three-year fellowship make up the orchestra each season. NWS has over 1,250 alumni transforming communities in over 30 countries.
Eighty-seven Fellows comprise the 2023-24 class at New World Symphony across 17 instruments and three non-instrumental positions. The Fellows are selected for this highly competitive opportunity based on their musical achievement and promise, as well as their passion for the future of classical music. The 37 new Fellows selected to join the 2023-24 class represent 13 U.S. states and eight countries around the world.
Tickets can be purchased online, or by calling 305-673-3331 or visiting the box office. Subscriptions are now on sale ($24 - $480) for best seats, subscriber perks and most flexibility. Programs, artists, dates, prices and availability are subject to change.

Please click here for the complete 2023-24 season concert schedule.

About Stéphane Denève, Artistic Director

Stéphane Denève is Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and, beginning with the 2023-24 season, Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He recently concluded terms as Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic, and previously served as Chief Conductor of Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
About Molly Turner, Conducting FellowMolly Turner is a Chinese-born conductor and composer and a first-year Fellow at the New World Symphony. Recently, she has conducted the Orchestre de Paris, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn, Juilliard Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Primrose International Viola Competition, Colburn Orchestra and Eastern Festival Orchestra. She has served as assistant conductor for the Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre de Paris, San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, San Diego Symphony, National Polish Radio Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra and Colburn Orchestra. In 2019 she was the youngest conductor invited for residency at the Dallas Opera's Hart Institute for Women Conductors. She has assisted Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Robertson, Stéphane Denève, Yaniv Dinur, Rafael Payare, Nicholas McGegan and Jeffrey Milarsky.

About New World Symphony

The New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy (NWS), prepares graduates of music programs for leadership roles in professional orchestras and ensembles. Since its co-founding in 1987 by Artistic Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas and Lin and Ted Arison, NWS has helped launch the careers of more than 1,250 alumni worldwide. In fall 2022 Stéphane Denève was named Artistic Director of the New World Symphony. A laboratory for the way music is taught, presented and experienced, the New World Symphony consists of young musicians who are granted fellowships lasting up to three years. The fellowship program offers in-depth exposure to traditional and modern repertoire, professional development training and personalized experiences working with leading guest conductors, soloists and visiting faculty.
 

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