Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra – 2014-15 Season Features Cirque, Opera & WWII Remembrance. 28th Concert Season Opens September 20, New Guest Artist Recital Series Debuts September 6
With everything from a multimedia remembrance of WWII, to a night of glorious opera music, and a special event featuring international Cirque acrobats performing live to symphony music, the 2014-2015 season of Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra (NFSO) is set to both dazzle and pull at the heart strings.
“In addition to our six concerts in the magnificent mainstage theater at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center in Niceville, we are also introducing a new series of intimate Guest Artist Recitals in the center’s Tyler Recital Hall,” said Jeffrey Rink, NFSO Music Director and Conductor, who noted that the theme for the NFSO’s 28th season, “A Musical Voyage,” reflects the broad spectrum of artists, events and music from around the globe.
The new series of NFSO Guest Artist Recitals includes soloist piano recitals by renowned pianists Eric Himy of Washington DC, on Saturday, September 6, 2014; Anna Bulkina, a native of Turkmenistan, on Saturday, January 24, 2015; and Ukraine born Israeli Yevgeny Yontov, the 2013 Gold medal winner of the Wideman International Piano Competition, on Saturday, April 25, 2015 – returning following his soloist appearance for the NFSO’s season opening concert.
The NFSO symphony season opens Saturday, September 20, 2014 with “Glory and Remembrance”. As performed by major symphonies across the USA, the NFSO presents a nationally produced large-format photochoreography experience to commemorate the 75th anniversary of WWII and the 100th anniversary of WWI.
“Patrons will experience a stunning integration of images and music honoring the men and women of the Greatest Generation who won history’s most pivotal victory,” said Rink, who explained that the NFSO has partnered with Westwater Arts to present the unique concert, which will be a fusion of live symphonic music with multi-image photographic essays choreographed to select classical compositions.
Rink noted that concert experiences by Westwater Arts have sold out in Washington DC with the National Symphony and with orchestras across the USA and have been received with accolades everywhere they are performed. “Spectacular to behold . . . creative interplay of sight and sound . . .” – Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; “An often heart-melting multimedia experience” – The Post-Courier, of Charleston, SC. “Splendid… breathtakingly beautiful,” – the Cleveland Plain Dealer; “The merging of sound and image was exquisite,” The Charlotte Observer.
At the “Glory & Remembrance” concert on September 20, the NFSO will perform a movement of Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 5 set to historic WWII images in a moving tribute to the home front and the front lines. The evening’s companion work, “No Man’s Land,” combines images of WWI with Aaron Copland’s poignant Quiet City. This night’s musical journey concludes with renowned Guest Artist Yevgeny Yontov of Israel, the 2013 Wideman International piano Competition Gold Medal winner, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, op. 58. Active Duty military members and their guests receive a discount to all NFSO concerts ($18 military & youth, $25 regular admission).
“The photochoreography at our opening concert and our 2015 Cirque event will both superbly meld the strengths of two art forms and help the orchestra share the beauty of live classical music with today’s more diverse and visually oriented audiences,” said Rink.
On Saturday, November 15, 2014 the NFSO’s 28th season continues with “Czech it Out!”, an all-Czech program featuring Smetana’s beloved tone poem The Moldau and Dvorák’s magnificent Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104. Joining the orchestra will be Guest Artist Sergey Antonov, the 2007 Tchaikovsky International Competition Gold Medal Winner. Hailed as “a brilliant cellist” by the legendary Mstislav Rostropovich, the much sought-after Antonov has performed at world-renowned venues from Russia’s Great Hall at the Moscow Conservatory to Suntory Hall in Tokyo and he is a favored guest artist with the Newport Music Festival, where he made his American debut, four years ago.
In a review of Antonov in May 2013, Elisa Birdseye for Classical-Scene noted that he was “. . . An artist of great warmth and musical brilliance . . .Antonov plays with near technical perfection and a fully mature sense of line. He is passionate or delicate where required, emotional without being sentimental, and generally just beautiful . . . When deep into the demanding physical parts of the music, sweaty and hair flying, he could easily walk onto the set of the TV drama True Blood as a powerful, other-worldly entity . . . (with his) chiseled good looks.”
The ever popular annual “Holiday Pops” concert, an NFSO tradition, promises to be an inspired and entertaining evening on Friday, December 12, 2014. The annual “Stars of Tomorrow” event on Friday, February 6, 2015 takes a South American twist as the concert highlights some of the most talented young musicians in our region — winners of the 28th annual Northwest Florida Symphony Guild Concerto competition – along with the NFSO performing with Alberto Ginastera’s exciting Variaciones Concertantes and Astor Piazzola’s sultry Tangos.
A highlight of the 2014-2015 NFSO season will be an amazing combination of classical masterpieces and popular contemporary music with the incredible visual magic of “Cirque de la Symphonie” on Saturday, March 14, 2015. With exciting artistic performances seen in theaters worldwide, Cirque de la Symphonie artists will present aerial flyers & silks, acrobats, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, balancers, and strongmen – all choreographed to magnificent music presented by the NFSO.
“The Cirque concert event will be a full-scale music and visual feast for the senses that’s only possible in the state-of-the-art Mattie Kelly Arts Center,” noted NFSO conductor Jeffrey Rink of the performance venue which boasts a 10-story fly space, a huge stage that hosts touring Broadway shows, and a custom orchestral music shell that provides optimum acoustics for symphony patrons.
Cirque de la Symphonie has been praised as “nothing short of breathtaking” by the Washington Post and “stunning … scintillating grace of movement … that brought down the house” by the Kansas City Free Press.
“Cirque de la Symphonie will dazzle audiences of all ages,” said Maestro Rink, “These are the world’s finest cirque artists that draw sell-out crowds wherever they perform.”
The NFSO will close the 2014-15 season in grande style on April 11, 2015 with an “A Night at the Opera.” The Mattie Kelly Arts Center will become a glorious Opera House as the NFSO welcomes back German soprano Vera Schoenenberg, Boston baritone Robert Honeysucker, and premieres rising star Korean tenor Won Whi Choi, along with the Northwest Florida Symphony Chorale for an unforgettable evening of Opera and Operetta.
Tickets to the special Cirque de la Symphonie performance, along with all five regular NFSO season concerts, are included in the Gold NFSO Season Subscription, for $165 each, a discount over individual ticket prices. The NFSO Regular Season Subscription, which includes the five regular season concerts, but not the Cirque event, are $115 each. Individual tickets are $25 each for all regular NFSO concerts and Guest Artist Piano Recitals. Cirque de la Symphony tickets are $37 each. Youth ages 18 and younger or Active duty military and their guests may purchase regular concert tickets for discount of $18 each. NWFSC students may request one free ticket per student ID for the 5 regular season concerts. Cirque and Guest Artist Recitals do not offer a discounted rate or student tickets. All prices are flat rate and include Box Office processing fees.
Contact the Mattie Kelly Arts Center Box Office by phone (850) 729-6000 or web at www.MattieKellyArtsCenter.org
The fully-professional NFSO performs in residence at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center on the Niceville campus of Northwest Florida State College. The orchestra was established in 1987 under the auspices of the college. See the NFSO website at www.nfsymphony.org for more information.
The NFSO relies on tax-deductible donations and corporate underwriting to support the orchestra and its numerous, long-standing educational endeavors for area youth. Contact the NFSO or the college’s Foundation to make a donation to support the NFSO.
