Vancouver Symphony Orchestra announces 2022-23 season, with guest artists including Itzhak Perlman, Stewart Copeland, and Colonel Chris Hadfield
Comeback season also features Measha Brueggergosman, Marion Newman, Sarah Slean, a Wizard of Oz concert, and a series dedicated to the planet
Stewart Copeland. Photo by Philamonjaro
VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA has announced the lineup for the 2022-23 season, the organization's 104th. The lineup runs the gamut from The Wizard of Oz to Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 and features international names such as violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, three-time Grammy-winning pianist Hilary Hahn, the Police’s drummer Stewart Copeland, and guitar-playing astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield.
“During a time of tumult, such as we’ve seen recently, how better to reconnect to ourselves, and the world around us, than through music?” VSO music director Otto Tausk said in a release. “The quality and range of guest artists coming to Vancouver is a testament to our great orchestra and city.”
It all kicks off on September 15 with a special gala concert to launch the new season, with a performance by legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman (John Williams: Cinema Serenade, including the theme from Schindler’s List). The September 23-24 season-opening concert features Georgian firebrand pianist Khatia Buniatishvili.
Chris Hadfield. Photo by The Spotlight Agency
Colonel Chris Hadfield appears on September 16, launching Our Planet, a concert package that highlights the innate connections between music and nature. The series also features French pianist Hélène Grimaud (November 25 and 26), one of world’s finest pianists who founded the Wolf Conservation Centre. There will be concerts that celebrate the seasons as well as the new multimedia commissions Life Emerging I & II (in November and June respectively), composed by the VSO’s Marcus Goddard, which explore the effects of climate change in Antarctica and the Pacific Northwest. The VSO commission Life Emerging: Antarctica is paired with imagery by award-winning videographer and photographer Paul Nicklen, with a cello solo originally written by Goddard for Yo-Yo Ma, here played by VSO principal cello, Henry Shapard.
In addition to Goddard’s works, other premieres of Canadian music include works by Vivian Fung (Flute Concerto, November), Cassandra Miller (March/April), and Rita Ueda (with a new VSO commission in March).
Rock-and-Roll Hall-of-Famer Stewart Copeland hits the stage on September 30 and October 1 with his newly imagined symphonic show Stewart Copeland’s The Police De-ranged. Three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn performs Sibelius’s Violin Concerto on January 13 and 14.
Hélène Grimaud. Photo by Mat Hennek
Among the internationally renowned artists making their VSO debuts are pianists Hélène Grimaud (Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1, November) and Wayne Marshall, who’s also an acclaimed conductor (Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue and others, May); violinist Stefan Jackiw (Brahms: Violin Concerto, June); cellists Alisa Weilerstein (Golijov Azul, November) and Julia Hagen (Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1, February); trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger (May); and horn player Stefan Dohr (Strauss:Till Eulenspiegel, May).
Elsewhere, the Newmont Masterworks Gold, Assante Vancouver Centre Masterworks Diamond, Musically Speaking, Classical Traditions at the Chan Centre and Surrey Nights series celebrate some of the greatest works from the orchestral canon, including: Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (September); Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (October); Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture and Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (November); Sibelius’s Violin Concerto (January), Elgar’s Enigma Variations (February), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (March). Programming during the month of May includes Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 , Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltzes, and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite, while Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis comes in June.
Wayne Marshall.
Tausk reunites with his Dutch countrymen Lucas and Arthur Jussen (March 31 and April 1), who last joined the VSO in the maestro’s inaugural concert as VSO music director in 2018. James Ehnes will play Korngold’s Violin Concerto in May, the same repertoire he performed with the VSO in their Grammy Award-winning recording. Soprano Measha Brueggergossman (Berlioz: La mort de Cléopatre, February), while mezzo-soprano Marion Newman is to perform various repertoire on multiple dates.
The popular London Drugs VSO Pops series includes Copeland’s piece as well as a tribute to Joni Mitchell by Juno- and Gemini-nominated Canadian indie rocker Sarah Slean (October 28and 29) and a raucous ode to the “Queen of Soul” featuring Broadway sensation Capathia Jenkins leading vocals on Aretha: A Tribute (April 28 and 29).
Otto Tausk.
The Wizard of Oz with Live Orchestra (November 18 and 19) is part of Movie Nights with the VSO presented by TELUS, which also includes West Side Story: Film with Orchestra (April 22 and 23).
Other highlights? Triple-threat singer/pianist/songwriter Tony DeSare showcases works by Frank Sinatra (January 27 and 28). Straight from Paris is the ultimate tribute to the French songstress with Edith Piaf Symphonique (February 10 and 11). Vancouver’s own Juno-winning indie rock band Said the Whale performs with the VSO on April 19. The Sunday matinee OriginO Kids Concert series returns with five concerts, including a collaboration with Simon Fraser University’s Precursor Lab with Music is a Theme Park (November 20).
Measha Brueggergosman. Photo by Mathieu Savidant
Angela Elster, president and CEO of the VSO and VSO School of Music, says that diversity is at the core of the organization's programming and operations. “Innovation and inclusion are foundational to our music-making,” Elster said in a release. “Gender equity is key to our thinking: key to our content selection, our conductor selection, and our composer selection. As is Indigenous culture. With the guidance of the VSO Indigenous Council, Indigenous content, guest artists, and composers are woven into our programming. We saw this at our recent presentation of The Path Forward. We look forward to future co-creations with the VSO Indigenous Council and our creative partners within the Coast Salish Host Nations, as we continue the VSO’s path on Truth and Reconciliation.”
Season subscriptions are available to the public on April 29, with subscribers receiving up to 40-percent discounts off regular ticket prices. Single tickets will be released in late summer 2022.
Full 2022-23 details are at VancouverSymphony.ca.
Related Articles
