Four premieres, two major symphonies and a new concerto by Black composers and a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem highlight the 2023-24 Symphony Series, the mainstage programs of the Richmond Symphony.
In addition to the Verdi, familiar repertory in the coming season includes Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony, Johannes Brahms’ Second Symphony, Piotr Ilych Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony (No. 6), Ludwig van Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony, Maurice Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé” Suite No. 2 and George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris.”
Concertos and soloists include the premiere of a Violin Concerto by the contemporary Italian composer Andrea Portera, featuring Daisuke Yamamoto, the symphony’s concertmaster; Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto, played by Paul Neubauer; the premiere of a Piano Concerto by the Virginia-based composer Adolphus Hailstork, played by Lara Downes; Ferrucio Busoni’s Violin Concerto in D major, played by Francesca Dego; Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, played by Dinara Klinton; and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4, played by Dominic Rotella, the orchestra’s principal French horn player.
The premieres, in addition to the Portera and Hailstork concertos, are as as-yet untitled works by Zachary Wadsworth and Damien Geter, both natives of Chesterfield County. Geter is currently in residencies with the symphony and Virginia Opera.
The Hailstork concerto joins Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3 and William Levi Dawson’s “Negro Folk Symphony” among works by Black composers on the season’s schedule.
Guest conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto will lead a program that presents the Gershwin tone poem and “Three Dance Episodes from ‘On the Town’ ” by Leonard Bernstein along with works by three Latin-American composers, Argentina’s Alberto Ginastera and Mexico’s Silvestre Revueltas and José Pablo Moncayo.
Ticket subscriptions for the 2023-24 Symphony Series are now open for renewal. For more information, call (804) 788-1212 or visit http://richmondsymphony.com
Sept. 30 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 1 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Andrea Portera: Violin Concerto (premiere)
Daisuke Yamamoto, violin
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major
Oct. 21 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 22 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Richard Strauss: “Don Juan”
Bartók: Viola Concerto
Paul Neubauer, viola
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor (“Pathétique”)
Nov. 11 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 12 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi & Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
Roxanna Panufnik: “Across the Line of Dreams”
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Adolphus Hailstork: Piano Concerto (premiere)
Lara Downes, piano
William Levi Dawson: “Negro Folk Symphony”
Jan. 20 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 21 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Damien Geter: new work TBA (premiere)
Ferruccio Busoni: Violin Concerto in D major
Francesca Dego, violin
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major
Feb. 24 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 25 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor
Dinara Klinton, piano
Zachary Wadsworth: new work TBA (premiere)
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Ravel: “Daphnis et Chloé” Suite No. 2
April 6 (8 p.m.)
April 7 (3 p.m.)
Carlos Miguel Prieto conducting
Gershwin: “An American in Paris”
Silvestre Revueltas: “Redes” Suite
Bernstein: “Three Dance Episodes from ‘On the Town’ ”
Alberto Ginastera: “Estancia” Suite
José Pablo Moncayo: “Huapango”
May 4 (8 p.m.)
May 5 (3 p.m.)
Anthony Parnther conducting
Florence Beatrice Price: Symphony No. 3
Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495
Dominic Rotella, French horn
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F major
June 1 (8 p.m.)
June 2 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Verdi: Requiem
Jennifer Rowley, soprano
Guadalupe Barrientos, mezzo-soprano
Rodrick Dixon, tenor
David Leigh, bass
Richmond Symphony Chorus
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