Kent Nagano today announced plans for Berkeley Symphony’s 2008-09 season, his last as Music Director. Nagano opens his 30th anniversary season leading Berkeley Symphony in his final concert as Music Director. He is followed by the final three of six guest conductors in Berkeley Symphony’s search for its next Music Director: William Eddins, Paul Haas, and Joana Carneiro.
Nagano then closes the season with two performances by Berkeley Akademie Ensemble. Season subscriptions (4-concert introductory packages start at $80; 6 concerts for $120).
Kent Nagano opens on Thursday, September 18, 2008 at Zellerbach Hall with a program marking his 30th anniversary with the orchestra. He will lead the orchestra in Mozart’s Symphony No. 41—the composer’s last, known as the “Jupiter” symphony—and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7. An additional musical element on the program will honor Nagano’s long tenure with the orchestra.
William Eddins, currently Music Director of Canada’s Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, is an American conductor from Buffalo, NY. His program on Thursday, October 23, 2008 opens with a trio of short selections from early 1900’s France. Eddins performs on piano for the U.S. premiere of Allan Gilliland’s Rhapsody, then returns to the podium for Bohuslav Martinů’s Symphony No. 1.
Paul Haas, Artistic Director of the New York-based Sympho concert production company, conducts on Thursday, November 20, 2008. He presents Joshua Penman’s Songs the Plants Taught Us, Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. Violin soloist will be Danielle Belen Nesmith in her first engagement since winning the 2008 Sphinx Competition, recognizing achievement by African-Americans and Latinos in classical music.
Joana Carneiro, who serves as Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and holds positions with two orchestras in her native Portugal, will be the sixth and final conductor in Berkeley Symphony’s Music Director search. On Thursday, December 18, 2008, she leads Magnus Lindberg’s Chorale, Berkeley resident John Adams’s Shaker Loops, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
In conjunction with the season’s guest conductor residencies, Berkeley Symphony will again offer three evenings of its signature Under Construction series of new music readings. Emerging Composers in Residence will be selected to have works developed over the course of the season’s three events.
Nagano concludes his anniversary season in his new role as Co-Artistic Director of Berkeley Akademie Ensemble, a program of Berkeley Symphony founded in 2007. Together with concertmaster Stuart Canin, he will lead Berkeley Symphony musicians and guest artists from Junge Deutsche Philharmonie in explorations of small orchestra repertoire with two performances in May 2009. Also on May 15, 2009, a gala dinner in Nagano’s honor will be held at the Claremont Resort. -- www.berkeleysymphony.org
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