SEASON OF THE ARTS
Turn on, tune into classical music season
9/14/2013Toledo, prepare to dump the doldrums. Citizens, brace for shivers down our collective spine.
From the get-go this month, the 2013-2014 season is for turning on and tuning in to beauty, enlightenment, and inspiration via live music, dance, opera, and more.
The Toledo Symphony will bring Beethoven to the Huntington Center and Frankenstein, Verdi, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Mozart to the Peristyle in a rich and varied season marking its 70th anniversary. Its KeyBank Pops series at the Stranahan will bow to Elvis, Queen, and Rodgers and Hammerstein. Mozart & More will traverse all of Bach’s Brandenberg concerti at the Franciscan Center.
The tragic tale of Aida, in a historic revival honoring Verdi’s 200th birthday, is just ahead, thanks to the Toledo Opera, which also plans a Ladies in Red redux next year. Look for Shawn Mathey in the title role of Faust to round out the season.
Over at the Valentine, it will be 10 tenors belting to the nosebleed section. There’s also a return of the Russian National Ballet in the works and a rich mix of local performing groups slated for the beautiful and historic auditorium.
The Toledo Ballet and other local and visiting companies tender an appealing mix of tradition — especially The Nutcracker — plus brand new choreography.
Sylvania native Chip Davis’ phenomenal music machine, Mannheim Steamroller, will herald the holiday season at the Stranahan Theater.
Brilliant guests galore — particularly keyboard artists including Jeremy Denk, Jill Dawe, Christina and Michelle Naughton, Andras Schiff, Kiril Gerstein, and Paul Jacobs — are due in to brighten and enlighten. Local faves Frances Renzi, Todd Wilson, Michael Boyd, Aaron Miller, and Robert Ballinger will perform.
America’s great diva, Marilyn Horne, will be in residence at the University of Toledo, where an opera revival brings works by 20th century composers Aaron Copland and Gian Carlo Menotti
And the Macarthur “genius” Award-winning composer, George Lewis, is due on the Bowling Green State University campus for its 34th annual New Music Festival. Christopher O’Riley, pianist and host of the National Public Radio hit From the Top, will be in Kobacker Hall for the first-ever local taping.
In Ann Arbor, University Musical Society once more brings the world’s wealth of creative endeavor to town — from symphonies to soloists, dance, theater, and jazz.
Here’s a month-by-month guide to don’t-wanna-miss events. Details are in the long listings.
SEPTEMBER: From the Top taping. ALBA Consort at Rosary Cathedral. UT Songs of Life, Love & Sorrow. All-Rachmaninoff by the Toledo symphony.
OCTOBER: Toledo Opera revives Aida. The symphony remembers Frankenstein. UMS brings in Manganiyar Seduction from India. BGSU stages its New Music Festival. Perrysburg Symphony Orchestra premieres new work and honors Mozart.
NOVEMBER: UT Opera presents Copland’s The Tender Land. BGSU produces The Pirates of Penzance. KeyBank Pops honors Elvis. Mannheim Steamroller comes to the Stranahan.
DECEMBER: Nutcrackers everywhere, and Messiah, plus Masterworks Chorale’s holiday show and Choral Vespers at Monroe Street United Methodist Church.
JANUARY: The symphony presents Waltzing Through Vienna. Moscow Festival Ballet comes to the Valentine. Pianist Denis Matsuev is in Ann Arbor.
FEBRUARY: Toledo Symphony presents Amadeus with live music. Also coming: Ladies in Red opera gala and Paul Jacobs on the Peristyle’s Skinner organ. The Price Piano Series at UT presents Terry Wong. BGSU brings on pianist Jeremy Denk.
MARCH: Ten Tenors at the Valentine. Verdi Requiem by the symphony. Measure for Measure men’s chorus at Rosary Cathedral. UMS presents Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
APRIL: Toledo Ballet premieres From Heart to Quill, while the symphony performs Beethoven’s Ninth at Huntington. Toledo Opera produces Faust.
MAY: Toledo Symphony presents Bruckner Symphony No. 9 in Rosary Cathedral. Also scheduled: Toledo School for the Arts Kaleidoscope and Masterworks Collage VII.
Everyone knows that access to fine, live performing arts in a community is a key indicator of quality of life.
By that standard alone, the Toledo area is richly endowed and truly fortunate.
Contact Sally Vallongo at: svallongo@theblade.com.