Leonard Slatkin is now the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s music director laureate, but “this is still clearly his orchestra: robust, quirky, adventurous and eager to explore all manner of musical journeys,” writes Dave Lucas in Sunday’s (1/28) Detroit Free Press. Many guest conductors will lead the DSO in 2018-19, but Slatkin will lead the opening and closing programs and conduct “all six programs of a festival of American music in February, 2019…. [Says Erik Rönmark, the DSO’s vice president and general manager], ‘You’ll hear Bernstein and Gershwin and John Williams. But it’s not just about the superstars.’ Also on the programs are … works by Morton Gould, Joan Tower, Aaron Copland, John Cage, Cindy McTee and a world premiere by Kristin Kuster.… The American Festival will highlight several DSO musicians … including principal cello Wei Yu … principal oboe Alexander Kinmonth … associate concertmaster Kimberly Kaloyanides Kennedy … percussionists Joseph Becker and Andres Pichardo … timpanists Jeremy Epp and James Ritchie … concertmaster Yoonshin Song, principal trumpet Hunter Eberly and horn players Karl Pituch (principal horn) and Johanna Yarbrough.” The season will include works by twelve living composers, including five women.
Posted January 29, 2018
