JSO to Open Season with "Strange Bedfellows"

During the 61st concert season, the Jackson Symphony Orchestra will be “looking into the minds of composers” to see what inspires them. Each of the five concerts will feature the music of inventive composers, who approached their work in unique ways.

The concerts are scheduled for Oct. 2, Nov. 13, Feb. 5 or Feb. 6, March 19 and May 7. Throughout the year, JSO’s Composer-in-Residence Dr. Bruce Brown will work on a new piece of music and share news of his progress with audience members, giving the a chance to “witness the birth of a concert,” so to speak. The world premiere of his composition will be performed in May.

The JSO’s opening season program on Oct. 2 is sponsored by Citizens Bank and features some of the most romantic and innovative works ever written. Officially the concert is titled Strange Bedfellows because all of the composers for this program were born in 17th century Europe, but led divergent lifestyles and approached their art in dissimilar ways. The composers are Richard Wagner (German, 1813-1883), Robert Schumann (German, 1810-1856), Frédéric Chopin (Polish, 1810-1849), Hector Berlioz (French, 1803-1869), Felix Mendelssohn (German, 1809-1847), and Giuseppe Verdi (Italian, 1813-1901).

The concert begins at 8 p.m. at the Potter Center at Jackson Community College and there will be not just one, but three soloists.

• Internationally acclaimed pianist Ian Hobson will perform Schumann’s Piano Concert, having recorded it in London earlier in the week. He’ll also perform a Chopin piano solo.

• Violinist Xie Min, a member of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, a visiting professor at the Xi’an Conservatory of Music in China and Concertmaster for the JSO, will perform the final movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.

• Metropolitan Opera tenor and Jackson native Richard Fracker will perform Questa e Quella from Verdi's opera, Rigoletto. “Fracker, who had to miss the Verdi Requiem last season because of illness, will keep his hometown fans happy with a reappearance,” Maestro Stephen Osmond said.

Other pieces on the Oct. 2 program are Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod and Hector Berlioz’ Roman Carnival Overture. The Celtic legend of Tristan and Isolde, a tragic tale of two fated lovers, inspired Wagner’s composition. Berlioz’ rousing carnival scene, written in 1844, was an addition to his 1838 opera, Benvenuto Cellini. The opera’s plot is about the 16th-century painter and sculptor, who fell in love with the daughter of a Papal treasurer.

Six men. Six minds. The music of these composers, all born within a decade of each other, covers a broad spectrum.

“There’s incredible variety in their lives and music,” Osmond said. “Verdi and Wagner were the Richard Rodgers and Andrew Lloyd Webber of their day, writing for the theater at opposite ends of the musical spectrum and both very successful in their own time. Verdi took his wealth and built retirement centers for poor musicians. Wagner built theaters in his own image. Berlioz, a real maverick going in different directions, was rumored to be a serious hallucinogenic drug user. Chopin, considered the major Polish composer of all time, never lived there past childhood. Schumann had significant mental issues. Mendelssohn, a wunderkind aristocrat, was probably the ‘most normal’ of the bunch.”

THE REST OF THE CONCERTS: The Nov. 13 concert, Not Just for Kids, will feature Peter and the Wolf, Carnival of Animals and Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. For the Feb. 5 and 6 concert, harpsichordist Ed Parmentier and organist Shin-Ae-Chun will present George Frideric Bach’s Organ Concerto and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto. This concert will take place at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Jackson. All others will be at the Potter Center at Jackson Community College. The March 19 program, Flavors of France, will showcase the music of Georges Bizet, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Besides Dr. Brown’s latest opus, the May 7 program, Our Own Back Yard, will include Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky’s dazzling Capriccio Italien and JSO’s Principal Flutist Richard Sherman performing Charles Griffes’ Poem for Flute and Orchestra.

TICKETS: Season tickets include five concerts, five pre-concert lectures, a two-for-one restaurant card, entertainment offers and other benefits. Prices are: Section A-$128; B-$108; C-$72. Individual tickets for the Oct. 2 concert are $18, $27, $32. They may be purchased online at http://www.jacksonsymphony.org/; by phone at 517-782-3221; or in person at the JSO Box Office, 215 W. Michigan Ave., downtown Jackson. All JSO ticket holders are invited to attend the complimentary and highly acclaimed pre-concert lecture series hosted by Dr. Bruce Brown, JSO Composer-in-Residence. Backstage Glimpses takes place at 7 p.m. in the Federer Rooms off the main floor lobby in the Potter Center and is sponsored by Allegiance Health.



NOTE: The Jackson Symphony Orchestra is a community resource providing performances of the classics and popular music, a community music school with private and group instruction and numerous educational programs for students of all ages. The organization owns a 30,000-square-foot facility in the heart of downtown Jackson which not only serves as an administrative, rehearsal, and recital performance space for the orchestra but also is home to the Jackson Youth Symphony, the Jackson Chorale and Children's Choir, the Michigan Shakespeare Festival and JSO Community String Ensemble. The orchestra primarily performs at the world-class Music Hall of the Jackson Community College Potter Center and other venues in town including several churches, the County Fairgrounds and Michigan Theatre.