“Yaniv Attar, music director of Whatcom Symphony Orchestra, says ‘the 2016-2017 season features guest soloists who are young, but not rising stars;’ they’re already established virtuosos who played with major orchestras in the world,” writes Margaret Bikman in Tuesday’s (8/23) Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, WA). “Violinist Jennifer Koh, 30, makes her third visit with the WSO in January, playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in the second ‘Harmony from Discord’ series. Seattle-born Simone Porter, 20, debuted with the Seattle Symphony at age 10, and made her debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London at 13. Cellist Joshua Roman, 33, performs on May 21. And for younger classical music aficionados, the WSO has expanded the Take-A-Teen program for those 19 and younger, and added a new feature, Con Brio Crew, for ages 21 through 40.” Season repertoire includes an all-American program of Ives, Copland, Gershwin, and Bernstein; Brahms’s Symphony No. 1; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4; Arthur Honegger’s Pastorale d’été; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6; Eliezel Elper’s Al Naharot Bavel (“On the Rivers of Babylon”); and Erwin Schulhoff’s Symphony No. 2, featuring banjo and saxophone.
Posted August 25, 2016
