News

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.

2014 Youth Competition Winners

We’re delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Dorothy Vanek Youth Concerto Competition, held March 1–2: First Prize: Rebecca Shiao, pianoSecond Prize: Carissa Powe, violinThird Prize: Claire Thai, harp Rebecca has been invited to…

SASO Plays a Dazzling Liszt Concerto

Franz Liszt’s electrifying Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major will be performed by the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra conducted by Linus Lerner in its April concerts, with soloist Pervez Mody.

SASO Performs a Dazzling-Dramatic Concert in April

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol will open the April 5-6 spring concerts by the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra directed by Linus Lerner. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet will close the concert. Here’s a preview by Punch Howarth.

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