Oregon’s Eugene Symphony will open its 50th-anniversary season on September 24 with Music Director Danail Rachev leading a commissioned world premiere by Mason Bates, on a program that also will include Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole, Gershwin’s An American in Paris, and Saint-Saëns’s Violin Concerto No. 3, with soloist Benjamin Beilman. Also planned in 2015-16 are two other world premieres: Roberto Sierra’s Loíza, based on Puerto Rico’s “bomba” traditional dance, and Robert Kyr’s Piano Concerto, with soloist Alexandra Dossin. Other season highlights include Ginastera’s Estancia, with new choreography by Hector Zaraspe; Varèse’s Amériques, in collaboration with the University of Oregon Symphony Orchestra; Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite; and symphonies by Beethoven, Dvořák, Mahler, and Prokofiev. Conductor Laureate Marin Alsop will conduct a program of John Adams, Mahler, Bernstein, and James P. Johnson. In a concert themed to Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, Rachev’s home country, Yo-Yo Ma will perform Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, and the program will include Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, and Vladigerov’s Rhapsody Vardar.
Posted February 23, 2015
