In Sunday’s (1/22) Detroit Free Press, Mark Stryker reports on the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s 2012-13 season offerings. “Announced today, the DSO’s classical series next season—Leonard Slatkin’s fifth as music director—is heavy on grand romantic favorites by Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Prokofiev and others. At the heart of the season in February 2013, Slatkin will lead a three-week Beethoven Festival that encompasses all nine symphonies. … The festival is a make-up, a casualty of the strike-shortened season last year. Slatkin said he doesn’t want to alienate anyone during such an uncertain era. Given the unfortunate interruptions to his tenure—the strike, his heart attack—he said he’s still establishing trust with audiences that he can cash in later with greater programming risks. … There is less contemporary music on the docket than in previous Slatkin seasons, although seven living composers are represented including brash Englishman Thomas Adès and a varied group of Americans—John Williams, Adolphus Hailstork, Roberto Sierra (whose ‘Christmas Cantata’ will be given its world premiere), Kerry Turner and younger composers James Lee III and Missy Mazzoli, winner of the DSO’s Lebenbom prize for women composers.” The orchestra also announced its slate of pops concerts for the coming season.
Posted January 23, 2012
