News

Program notes for Oct. 4-5 concerts

By Tim Secomb The French composer Hector Berlioz was very influential in the development of the modern orchestra, particularly through his Treatise on Instrumentation, and also in the development of musical Romanticism. Like many other composers, Berlioz was…

Preview of SASO’s Oct. 4-5 season opener

By Punch Howarth Linus Lerner again conducts the season opening concert by the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, on Oct. 4–5, 2013, featuring Gustav Holst’s The Planets, as well as music by Berlioz and Mozart. Opening…

SASO Heads Back to Oaxaca Opera Festival

Members of the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra will travel to Oaxaca, Mexico to perform in the second annual Oaxaca Opera Festival on August 9 and 10. The orchestra will be joined by two dozen soloists from Mexico who competed for the opportunity to perform and to participate in the festival, plus a chorus.

2014–15 Season Tickets on Sale Now

Music is truly the international language. In the 2014–15 season, the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra features music that spans 14 countries with guest artists from around the globe. Season tickets are on sale now—including a new two-concert mini-series in Green Valley.

Playing Beethoven’s Ninth, from the Inside

SASO violinist—and novelist, and mariachi musician—D.R. Ransdell reveals what it was like to struggle through, and ultimately succeed in, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra at her own blog.

Program Notes for Our May, 2014 Concerts

By Tim Secomb Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his Festive Overture in 1947 to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Russian Revolution. First performed in 1954, it is unusual among Shostakovich’s works for its gaiety and lack…

Beethoven’s Mighty Ninth to be Performed in May

Linus Lerner will conduct the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, SASO Chorus, and soloists in a season-closing presentation of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in d minor, Op. 125, “The Choral.” This work is acknowledged to be the greatest symphony ever composed, and greatly influenced later composers of orchestra music, particularly Brahms and Mahler.

Contest-Winner Concerto

The Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra has assembled another top-notch lineup for its April concert, with selections from Tchaikovsky, Liszt and Rimsky-Korsakov. It’s the kind of performances SASO has become known for since 1979.

Pianist, Violinist, Harpist Win SASO Youth Concerto Competition

Pianist Rebecca Shiao won the 2014 Dorothy Vanek Youth Concerto Competition and will perform the first movement of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra on April 5 and 6. The second place winner is violinist Carissa Powe, who won $500. She is home schooled and studies violin with Wynne Rife. Harpist Claire Thai won third and $25. Also home schooled, she studies with Christine Vivona.

Rebecca Shiao Will Perform Prokofiev with SASO

Rebecca Shiao is this year’s winner of the Dorothy Vanek Youth Concerto Competition and will play the first movement of Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra on April 5 and 6. Ms. Shiao is a 17-year-old senior at Catalina Foothills High School and is a very talented student of Susan Chu.

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