Local talents highlight Las Vegas Philharmonic’s 2017-18 season
There’s no place like home — as the Las Vegas Philharmonic will demonstrate at several 2017-18 season concerts featuring Southern Nevada-based musicians and composers.
From singer Clint Holmes to pianist Mykola Suk to composer Michael Torke, locally based musicians will play a starring role in the Philharmonic’s 19th season, which includes nine concerts at The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall and three Spotlight Series chamber performances in the center’s Troesh Studio Theater.
Music director Donato Cabrera presided over Friday’s season announcement at the Las Vegas Country Club, where he lauded local musicians, saying their presence influenced the orchestra’s upcoming season.
“We have such great talent” in Las Vegas, he said. “Why always look out of the city for people to perform concertos when people in the orchestra can do it?”
A conversation with pianist Suk — who’ll perform Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 during the Philharmonic’s Sept. 9 season opener — sparked the idea. Suk performs outside Las Vegas, which prompted Cabrera to consider how to incorporate his skills at home.
Philharmonic member Cory Tiffin will play a Mozart clarinet concerto with the orchestra during its Oct. 14 “Oktoberfest” concert, while harpist Kimberly Glennie, oboist Stephen Caplan and cellist Andrew Smith will solo during the Jan. 13 “Musicians’ Choice” program featuring works by C.P.E. Bach, Claude Debussy and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Holmes, meanwhile, will narrate “Peter and the Wolf” during the orchestra’s “Home for the Holidays” matinee Dec. 2; that evening, the Philharmonic will team up with the Las Vegas Master Singers for “A Baroque Holiday,” highlighted by Part I of Handel’s “Messiah.”
The Master Singers, UNLV’s Concert Singers and Chamber Chorale — along with the university’s dance department — will collaborate April 14 on Carl Orff’s cantata “Carmina Burana.” The Nov. 4 “Copland in Mexico” program is part of a nationwide “Music Unwound” initiative featuring lectures, recitals, exhibitions and other events in collaboration with UNLV.
Full season details are available at lvphil.org.
Contact Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @CarolSCling on Twitter.
Guest artists return for Las Vegas Philharmonic encores
With 12 Smith Center performances — nine concerts in Reynolds Hall and three evenings of chamber music in the Troesh Studio Theater’s Spotlight Series — the Las Vegas Philharmonic’s 2017-18 promises programs blending local and visiting talents. (Visit lvphil.org for full details.)
To whet your appetite, here are five upcoming Philharmonic concerts already on our calendar:
- Sept. 9’s season opener features Richard Strauss’ “Don Juan,” the Philharmonic premiere of John Adams’ “Common Tones in Simple Time” (in celebration of the composer’s 70th birthday) and Brahms’ Piano Concert No. 1, performed by Las Vegas-based pianist Mykola Suk.
- Nov. 4’s “Copland in Mexico” concert (part of a nationwide initiative that includes lectures, exhibitions and other programming at UNLV) focuses on American composer Aaron Copland and Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas, whose populist works inspired such Copland classics as “Rodeo.”
- Feb. 10 ‘s “Sounds From Twilight” program features Las Vegas-based composer Michael Torke’s woodland-themed “Sylvan,” Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Robert Schumann’s sole violin concerto, performed by returning guest artist Alexi Kenney.
- On March 3, the “little orchestra” Pink Martini returns for more swing, jazz — and conga! — as part of the Philharmonic’s annual fundraising gala.
- May 19 ‘s season finale marks the second year of the Philharmonic’s American German Cultural Exchange Fellowship, with pianist Danae Dorken performing Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto No. 5; Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and Leonard Bernstein’s “Fancy Free” dances round out the program.
