The LSO has just announced details of their 2010/11 season, and it features a number of major symphony and concerto cycles, in addition to an impressive array of guest soloists and conductors.
Valery Gergiev continues his (generally) acclaimed tour through Russian repertoire with a number of concerts featuring major works by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Rodion Shchedrin. His Mahler cycle continues alike. Highlights include Shchedrin's Carmen Suite and Piano Concerto No. 5 with Denis Matsuev as soloist, which opens the season on September 25, Mahler's magisterial Ninth on March 2 and 3, and Tchaikovsky's Third Symphony and Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Yefin Bronfman on May 12 and 15.
Mitsuko Uchida and Colin Davis will begin their cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos with the orchestra this season, a cycle that co-exists with Davis' exploration of Nielsen's Symphonies (May 26, June 2). These cycles will run on into the 2011/12 season, and tickets will be available for all dates at once.
Andre Previn (January 16 in Strauss and Vaughan Williams), Bernard Haitink (June 14 and 16 in Bruckner and Schumann), and Simon Rattle (March 7 in Messiaen and Bruckner) are amongst a strong line-up of conducting talent for the coming season. The list of guest soloists is similarly solid, with Anne-Sophie Mutter appearing on October 10 and 12 in Dvorák, Julia Fischer on April 7 in Sibelius, and Victoria Mullova on September 30 in Prokofiev's Second, October 28 in Stravinsky, and December 21 in Beethoven.
Other highlights in a generally interesting and eclectic season include Eric Whitacre conducting a new commission written by him for the occasion, and Leonard Bernstein's Candide in a concert performance on June 5 with Kristjan Järvi conducting and Andrew Staples in the title role. The one thing missing from the schedule, with the (extremely safe) exception of Eric Whitacre, and new works by Daugherty and Garland on April 17 and May 5 respectively, is the cultivation and/or promotion of new or even somewhat recent music by the LSO.
The Barbican have also announced details of their forthcoming season, with the Great Performers line-up for 2010/11 being released this week. Amongst many highlights, the following concerts should prove of particular interest: The Houston Symphony and music director Hans Graf merge the astronomical expertise of the United States' space industry (Dr. Duncan Copp has created a new film for the performance) with Gustav Holst's The Planets, on October 16; Peter Sellars directs Dawn Upshaw and Geoff Nuttall in Kurtag's characterful and ingenious Kafka Fragments on November 11; Pierre Audi stages Wagner, Berg and Michel van der Aa with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta in an evening inspired by the 'unachievable desire for unification through love' on March 18; Kronos, Bang on a Can, So Percussion and the BBC SO come together to celebrate Steve Reich's 75th birthday in May, and John Malkovich stars in a staging of The Infernal Comedy, a new work for baroque orchestra (Wiener Akademie) by Michael Sturminger.
Other guests in a stellar line-up include the Los Angeles Philharmonic and their new Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, who perform Mahler, Adams, Bernstein, and Beethoven across two concerts in January, and the Berlin Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle in Haydn, Hosokawa, Stravinsky and Schubert across four concerts from February 20 - 23. Evgeny Kissin plays Liszt in February and Murray Perahia visits in March, whilst Gerald Finley and Dawn Upshaw, and Philippe Jaroussky and Andreas Scholl, each give joint concerts, in March and December respectively. Overall then, a lot to look forward to in the Barbican next season.
Tickets can be purchased for the LSO’s 2010/11 season online or by post from Monday January 25, and by phone and in person from February 8. Full details can be viewed here
Tickets for the Barbican’s Great Performers 2010/11 go on sale to Barbican members on January 28, and to the general public on February 12. Full details here
Photo: Valery Gergiev and Peter Sellars
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