The opening of the concert season is a cause for celebration
any time, but this year is particularly noteworthy.
Resident musicians — in the Rochester Philharmonic and
smaller classical groups, from the Eastman School’s outstanding faculty, and in
churches and other venues — will continue to provide exceptional
performances. And the 2005-2006 season includes a fair number of big-name
visitors.
Soprano Jessye Norman returns to Rochester October 28 to
help celebrate the 40th anniversary of Action for a Better Community, where
Norman’s brother James is president.
Van Cliburn winner Jon Nakamatsu performs with the Rochester
Philharmonic (October 6 and 8) and Chamber Music Rochester (October 9); Emanuel
Ax opens the Eastman School’s new “Grand Pianists” series on December 1; tenor
Douglas Ahlstedt joins the Rochester Chamber Orchestra for a December 4 concert
— and the RPO’s December 21 holiday concert features Rochester native Renรฉe
Fleming.
In addition to the “Grand Pianists” series, there are other
newcomers. The Eastman School celebrates its restored Italian baroque organ,
housed at the Memorial Art Gallery, with a festival of concerts, a symposium,
and masterclasses October 6-16. And Mercury Opera Rochester — the merged
Rochester Opera Factory, Opera Rochester, and Opera Theatre Guild — debuts
with a three-performance season.
Among the more unusual programs: Chamber Music Rochester’s
collaboration with the Memorial Art Gallery combining art from the Jewish
Museum and music by Jewish composers (November 13), and (at the Eastman School
January 24) Huun-Huur-Tu, whose program of Mongolian throat-singing sold out
here 10 years ago.
See our classical
music calendar, page 24, for detailed information on these and other concerts.
This article appears in Sep 21-27, 2005.
