FINAL RPO 22-23 SEASON CONCERTS
Season Finale: Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony
Music of Motown + RPO 100th Birthday Celebration
PLUS: Rigoletto in Concert + violinist Stefan Jackiw
Rochester, NY – Your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) will close its 99th season with one of the greatest symphonies of all time – Mahler’s “Resurrection” – on Thursday, June 1 at 7:30 PM and Saturday, June 3 at 8 PM in Kodak Hall (a pre-concert talk takes place one hour prior to curtain each evening). Music Director Andreas Delfs conducts this Season Finale, which features the Rochester Oratorio Society (Eric Townell, Director).
Completed in 1984, Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony was his first significant work to explore his lifelong perspectives of the afterlife, and it established him as a leading composer of his day. An all-embracing work, it is the first of Mahler’s symphonies to use voices, words, and orchestra to create a musical experience that stays with audiences far beyond the concert hall.
“Very few works in our repertoire can unleash the awesome power of spiritual renewal the way that Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony does,” exclaims Maestro Delfs. “The whole depth of the human experience and the entire breadth and width of a life fully lived are concentrated within a single symphony. These performances will fill your emotional tank so profoundly that the long stretch until our singular centennial season begins will feel like joyful anticipation of great things to come.”
Leading up to the Season Finale are seven more concerts, beginning with Scottish Fantasy & Dvořák on Thursday, May 4 at 7:30 PM and Saturday, May 6 at 8 PM in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre (a pre-concert talk will take place one hour prior to curtain each evening). Conductor Laureate of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Honorary Conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Lan Shui returns and one of America’s foremost violinists, Stefan Jackiw, joins as soloist for Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy. Folk music is echoed in the second half of the program as well in Dvořák’s Symphony No. 5, a piece that exemplifies the composer’s deep-rooted connection to the melodies and rhythms of his native Bohemia.
On Sunday, May 7 at 4 PM in Nazareth College’s Beston Hall at Glazer Music Performance Center, the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra will close its Golden Anniversary Season celebration with RPYO: Golden Future. Led by RPYO Music Director James Mick, the concert includes the World Premiere of a special 50th Anniversary Music Commission by RPYO alumnus Evan Henry. RPYO Concerto Competition winners Rebecca Lee (piano) and Catalina Wooldridge (cello) will solo on Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F Major and Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor respectively. The closing piece will reprise the very first work ever played by the RPYO in 1970: Dvorak’s New World Symphony. A reception will immediately follow the concert. Tickets are $10/adults; $5 children.
The RPO’s annual opera concert is next on Thursday, May 18 at 7:30 PM and Saturday, May 20 at 8 PM in Kodak Hall (a pre-concert talk begins one hour prior to curtain each evening). Music Director Andreas Delfs conducts Opera in Concert: Rigoletto with baritone Lester Lynch as court jester Rigoletto, soprano Raven McMillon as his daughter Gilda, and tenor Andrew Owens as the Duke of Mantua. The cast of 13 features several Eastman School of Music students as well, including mezzo-soprano Katherine Ciesinski as Giovanna. Verdi’s operatic masterwork was originally titled La maledizione, or The Curse, referencing the tragic curse placed on Rigoletto and the Duke.
Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik leads the 2022-23 season’s final Pops concert on Friday and Saturday, May 26 & 27 at 8 PM in Kodak Hall (a pre-concert talk takes place one hour prior to curtain each evening). Dancing in the Street: Music of Motown debuts Tyzik’s authentic arrangements of hits made famous by Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, The Temptations, and Stevie Wonder. Songs including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Dancing In The Street,” “I Heard it Through The Grapevine,” “My Girl,” “Superstition,” and many more come alive again with dynamic vocalists Michael Lynche and Chester Gregory.
The RPO’s 100th Birthday Celebration takes place in conjunction with Dancing in the Street: Music of Motown on Friday, May 26. Attendees will enjoy cocktails and a multi-course dinner at The Wilder Room (120 East Ave.), followed by the concert in Kodak Hall. Then, they’ll return to The Wilder Room to continue the celebration with desserts and dancing with RPO musicians. Presented by Two Point Capital Management, and hosted by Co-Chairs Catherine & Elmar Frangenberg, M.D., proceeds from this signature event will support the RPO’s Education programs. Tickets are available by emailing [email protected] or by calling Patron Services at 585-454-2100 (Monday-Friday, 10 AM-5 PM).
The final Sunday Matinee of the season, Mozart, Gershwin & Ravel, is May 28 at 2 PM at Nazareth College’s Beston Hall at Glazer Music Performance Center. Eastman School of Music Professor of Conducting and Ensembles Neil Varon leads RPO soloists in a program that includes Ravel’s Five Pieces from Ma Mère l’Oye, Gershwin’s Clarinet Preludes, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 “Linz.” Tickets are $40/adults; $20/children.
Lastly, the final OrKIDStra concert of the season, Symphonic Safari, takes place on Sunday, June 4 at 2 PM at Hochstein Performance Hall. Hands-on activities are included and begin one hour prior to the musical African adventure. Tickets are $20 adults/$10 children.
Tickets for all RPO Kodak Hall shows start at $24/$12 for children ages 3-17 and are available online anytime at rpo.org, by phone at 585-454-2100, and in person at RPO Patron Services at 225 East Avenue (Monday-Friday, 10 AM-5 PM) and one hour prior to curtain at the Eastman Theatre Box Office (433 East Main St.). RPO Centennial Season (2023-24) subscriptions are now on sale at https://rpo.org/subscribe/. COVID protocols: vaccinations are no longer required to attend concerts and masking is currently optional.
The RPO thanks Season Sponsor M&T Bank, Pops Series Sponsors Canandaigua National Bank & Wegmans, and Special Series Sponsor Pittsford Federal Credit Union. RPO performances are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. The RPO is supported in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABOUT THE RPO: The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) has been committed to enriching and inspiring our community through the art of music since its origins in 1922. The RPO presents approximately 150 concerts and broadcasts a year, serving up to 170,000 people through ticketed events, education and community engagement activities, and concerts in schools and community centers throughout the region. Andreas Delfs was named music director in 2020 following notable RPO music directors Erich Leinsdorf, David Zinman, Mark Elder and Conductor Laureate Christopher Seaman. Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik, now in his 29th season, has earned a national reputation for excellence in pops programming during his tenure with the RPO. The RPO reaches more than 15,000 youth through its specific education programs.
Media please note: High-resolution images and other media assets for the 2022-23 Season can be found at https://bit.ly/3Rki4CL. Interviews and photo/footage opportunities are also available.