Go For Baroque With Fort Worth Symphony

Boisterous conductor Nicholas McGegan brings to life highlights of 18th-century opera and symphony with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Feb. 23-25 at Bass Performance Hall. The program opens with a suite from Rameau's Orchestral Suite from Naïs, a rambunctious battle piece that turns the stage into a sound of fury. Few musical works are as loved as Bach's Brandenburg Concertos-the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 displays a lighter side of Bach's genius, with horns and oboes in the spotlight.

Then enjoy music from Mozart's opera Idomeneo, based on the Trojan War, capturing the drama of Greek mythology. The concert concludes with Haydn's Symphony No. 85 in B-flat Major, fondly known as "La reine."

The concerts begin at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Learn more about the music by joining Principal Keyboardist Shields-Collins Bray for Symphonic Insights, one hour before each concert in the audience chamber.

McGegan is one of the world's leading authorities on Baroque and Classical repertoire, and he is a favorite guest of major orchestras and opera companies around the globe. In the United States, he has appeared in regular engagements with the Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia and Saint Louis symphony orchestras. He also appears regularly at the Aspen, Ravinia and Mostly Mozart festivals and the Hollywood Bowl.

Opera engagements include the San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Edinburgh Festival, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, and Sweden's famed Drottningholm Theatre. McGegan has a long association with the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, where he has been music director for more than twenty years. Since 1990 he has also been artistic director of the International Handel-Festival Göttingen, the world's oldest Baroque festival. His more than one hundred recordings cover a range of opera, orchestral, and chamber music including thirty with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

These concerts are made possible, in part, by the generous support of American Airlines. Promotional support is provided by the Star-Telegram and WRR Classical 101.1 FM.

Tickets are $15-$76. -- www.fwsymphony.org