In Tuesday’s (3/5) San Francisco Chronicle, Joshua Kosman writes, “Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony will mark the centenary of composer Benjamin Britten during the 2013-14 season with a semi-staged performance of the opera ‘Peter Grimes’—Thomas’ first time conducting the work—and performances of the ‘War Requiem,’ the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, and excerpts from ‘The Prince of the Pagodas.’ The season, which will open Sept. 3 with an all-American program featuring soprano Audra McDonald and run through June 29, will also include a number of mini-festivals and concentrated doses of the music of particular composers. Thomas will lead the orchestra in three major works by Mason Bates, pairing them with music of Beethoven before putting them on disc for the Symphony’s next recording project. … The season also includes a number of new initiatives by the orchestra. ‘New Voices,’ a collaboration with the New World Symphony and the music publisher Boosey and Hawkes designed to showcase young composers, will get under way with the premiere of ‘Lineage’ by Zosha Di Castri. … And a new series of intimate and experimental programs is planned, featuring such artists as Bates, Di Castri, Samuel Carl Adams and Nathaniel Stookey.”
Posted March 5, 2013
