LANSING, Mich. — The Lansing Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce its 2021-2022 season beginning October 9. This is LSO’s 92nd season, and it is a celebration, bringing back the joy and healing power of music to the stage.
“We are thrilled to be coming back,” says LSO Music Director and Conductor Timothy Muffitt. “There is no replacing the experience of performing music for a live audience who are actually in the same room with us! We are very proud of the digital concert experiences we shared with our patrons last season under immensely difficult circumstances, but this year we are coming back in person, and we are ecstatic about it. We have an incredible line-up that we know our audiences will love, and we can’t wait to share it with them, in person!”
LSO’s 2021-2022 season features five concerts in the MasterWorks Series, three in the Pops Series, four in the Chamber Series and two in the Jazz Band Series. The best way to get tickets is by becoming an LSO season subscriber and receiving up to 10 percent off the total price of your package. There are five different subscription options. The VIP package includes all 14 concerts in all four series and a parking pass. Other options include six concerts and a 10 percent discount or four concerts and a five percent discount. The Chamber Series consists of the four chamber concerts for $80 and the Jazz Band Series includes two jazz concerts for $40. For complete details, visit lansingsymphony.org or call the LSO office at 517-487-5001.
THE MASTERWORKS SERIES:
The MasterWorks Series begins Saturday, October 9, 2021, in Wharton Center’s Cobb Great Hall with a celebration featuring Pianist Michael Brown, who is hailed by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” The program includes Leonard Bernstein’s On The Town: Three Dance Episodes, a raucous of high-energy fun, and Roger Briggs: Gathering Together, based on a poem by Patricia Goedicke, celebrating the beauty of people coming together. Also, on the program is some of the most recognizable classical music ever written, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No 1.
The Friday, November 12, 2021, MasterWorks Concert features guest artist violinist Lucia Micarelli, one of the most versatile musicians in the business. Aside from being a world-class concert violinist, she is also an actor and singer and may be best known for her role as Annie Talarico in the TV series Treme. Collaborations outside of the classical style have included tours with Josh Groban, Chris Botti, and the classic rock band Jethro Tull, Micarelli will join this LSO on this program in Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto. Also on the program, music of the American composer Jessie Montgomery and Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 4.
The Friday, January 14, 2022, MasterWorks Concert features world-renowned Michigan cellist, Suren Bagratuni. This will be the first time Bagratuni will play with the LSO with Maestro Muffitt who refers to him as “one of the world’s great cellists.” The program includes Dmitri Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1, Dvořák Symphony No. 6 and a piece yet to be determined by LSO Composer-in-Residence Patrick Harlin.
On Saturday, March 19, 2022, the MasterWorks Concert includes pianist and composer Conrad Tao, whom The New York Times dubbed a musician “of probing intellect and open-hearted vision.” Tao has amassed a steady stream of awards and critical acclaim, including being named a prestigious Gilmore Young Artist. He will conduct and play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C Minor K. 491. The program also features the upbeat and effervescent Suite Francais by Francis Poulenc, written for winds and percussion and the prolific composer Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 90.
The final MasterWorks Concert on Friday, May 13, 2022, features a yet-to-be-announced Gilmore Young Artist performing a piano concerto along with Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 2., which Maestro Muffitt describes as a piece of music full of gratitude and humanity. Music of Composer-in-Residence Patrick Harlin will also be on the program. “The Brahms is a wonderful work to conclude a MasterWorks Series of celebration and re-connection. The warmth and richness of this work touches the listener in ways only Brahms can, and is an extraordinary testimony to the power of great music."
LSO POPS:
LSO Pops begins Sunday, December 19, 2021, with Lansing’s own tenor, Travis Leon, (Waverly graduate) performing a diverse mix of holiday favorites everyone is sure to enjoy at the annual Holiday Pops Concert. Then, on Saturday, February 12, 2022, it’s a Broadway celebration with Bravo Broadway! Join some of Broadway’s greatest hits sung by popular Broadway performers. On Sunday, April 23, 2022, The Music of Abba: Mamma Mia! And More is sure to delight as guest vocalists Jeans’n Classics belt out some of the most loved Abba tunes sure to have you singing along.
CHAMBER SERIES:
Join a handful of LSO musicians in the up-close-and-personal Chamber Series beginning Sunday, October 17, 2021, in Lansing’s First Presbyterian Church’s Molly Grove Chapel. LSO’s Principal Flutist Richard Sherman will join Principal Oboist Stephanie Shapiro and Principal Keyboardist Patrick Johnson to perform repertoire from Carlos Damas, Madeleine Dring, Alberto Ginastera and Georg Philipp Telemann.
On Sunday, December 5, 2021, the ConTempus string quartet will perform repertoire from LSO Composer-in-Residence, Patrick Harlin, and selections from Florence Price. The musicians will also surprise the audience with a Mozart piece known to stump musical aficionados.
On Sunday, January 30, 2022, join LSO Principal Percussionist Matthew Beck and friends for an afternoon of percussion chamber music sure to welcome in the new year with a smile.
April 10, 2022, join the ArtNova Project’s Piano Quintet as they perform the music of romantic era composer Ernst von Dohnányi, which pairs beautifully with Johannes Brahms.
JAZZ BAND SERIES:
The Lansing Symphony's Jazz Band, under the direction of Ron Newman, is proud to present two evenings of wonderful jazz performed by some of Michigan's finest jazz musicians. Concerts will take place on November 21, 2021, and February 27, 2022.
BELOW IS A LIST OF THE LSO COMPLETE 2021-2022 SEASON
MasterWorks Series
MW1, October 9, 2021
Michael Brown, Piano
Leonard Bernstein: On the Town: Three Dance EpisodesRoger Briggs: Gathering Together
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
MW2, November 12, 2021
Lucia Micarelli, Violin
Jessie Montgomery: Strum
Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 4
MW3, January 14, 2022
Suren Bagratuni, Cello
TBA
Dmitri Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1
Dvořák Symphony No. 6
MW4, March 19, 2022
Conrad Tao, Piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto in C Minor K. 491
Francis Poulenc: Suite Francais
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 90
MW5, May 13, 2022
Gilmore Young Artist
TBA
TBA: Piano ConcertoJohannes Brahms: Symphony No. 2
Pops Series
Holiday Pops, December 19, 2021Travis Leon, Tenor
Bravo Broadway!, February 12, 2022
Broadway Vocalists
The Music of Abba: Mama Mia! & More, April 23, 2022
Jeans’n Classics, Guest Vocalists
Chamber Series
Music for Flute, Oboe, and Piano
October 17, 2021
Damas, Dring, Ginastera, Telemann
The Element of Surprise with ConTempus Quartet
December 5, 2021
Harlin, Price, Mozart
Chamber Music with Percussion
January 30, 2022
Piano Quintet with the ArtNova Project
April 10, 2022
Dohnányi and Brahms
Jazz Band Series
Jazz Fall Concert, November 21, 2021
Jazz Spring Concert, February 27, 2022
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