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Classics Concerts

Artists, dates, times, locations and programs are subject to change.

2008-2009 Season

Reserve your seats now for the most incredible NMSO season ever!

CLASSICS I

Mozart and Stravinsky

September 19, 2008, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
September 20, 2008, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
September 21, 2008, 2pm, Popejoy Hall.

Performers
Guillermo Figueroa, Conductor
James Shields, Clarinet
New Mexico Ballet - Patricia Dickinson Wells, Director

Program
Verdi: Overture to La Forza del Destino
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite

We launch our season in the innovative tradition of our previous theatrical performances with a semi-staged production of Stravinsky's Firebird. With ballet dancers onstage in front of the orchestra, this glittering performance tells a vivid, enchanting story that builds to a soaring triumph. Mozart's humanity and grace will be on display through his masterly Clarinet Concerto. Opening the program is Verdi's dramatic and powerful overture, a signature work of the great Arturo Toscanini.

Mozart performances during the 2008-2009 Season are made possible by a gift to the community from an endowment by the Honorable James A. Parker and his family in memory of Florence "Flo" Parker.

CLASSICS II

Mendelssohn's Elijah

October 10, 2008, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
October 11, 2008, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
October 12, 2008, 2pm, The National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Performers
Roger Melone, Conductor
NMSO Chorus
Kelly Nassief, Soprano
Kathleen Clawson, Mezzo Soprano
Karl Dent, Tenor
David Grogan, Baritone

Program
Mendelssohn: Elijah

In one of the most beautiful and powerful choral works ever written, Mendelssohn uses Old Testament episodes to produce intensely dramatic scenes: the resurrection of a dead youth; the bringing of rain to parched Israel; Elijah ascending into heaven on a fiery chariot; and the contest of the gods. Exquisitely scored, almost operatic in parts, this vast, moving work suggests the spiritual triumph of mankind.

CLASSICS III

Brahms and Copland

October 31, 2008, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
November 1, 2008, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
November 2, 2008, 2pm, The National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Performers
Guillermo Figueroa, Conductor
Arnaldo Cohen, Piano

Program
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
Copland: Symphony No. 3

Originally savaged by critics and hissed by the audience, Brahms' first piano concerto grew in popularity until it was recognized as a masterpiece - symphonic in scale and thrilling in the technical difficulties it presents. Starting with wistful, gentle melodies - in tribute to Serge Koussevitzky's late wife Natalie - Copland's symphony, perhaps his greatest orchestral work, takes us on a rhapsodic journey to an exhilarating conclusion.

CLASSICS IV

Wagner and Tchaikovsky

November 21, 2008, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
November 22, 2008, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
November 23, 2008, 2pm, The National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Performers
Guillermo Figueroa, Conductor
David Schepps, Cello

Program
Wagner: Rienzi Overture
Bloch: Schelomo (Hebraic Rhapsody)
Tchaikovsky: Francesca de Rimini

Rienzi reveals Wagner's brilliant, roof-raising efforts in composing a fashionable "Parisian" opera. In Bloch's inspired masterpiece, the biblical tale is brought to life in sumptuous colors, the cello acting as the title character. Love, marriage, adultery and a descent into Hell are the dramatic ingredients of Tchaikovsky's sweeping symphonic fantasy.

CLASSICS V

Beethoven's Emperor Concerto

January 23, 2009, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
January 24, 2009, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
January 25, 2009, 2pm, The National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Performers
Guillermo Figueroa, Conductor
Christopher O'Riley, Pianist

Program
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
Sierra: Sinfonia No. 3, La Salsa
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor

Ravel's delicious, incomparable distillation of styles, an homage to the great French Baroque composers, is also dedicated to comrades who died in the First World War. Roberto Sierra's sophisticated La Salsa has rhythmic drive, infectious harmonies and a distinctly Caribbean sound. At times tender and intimate, at others grand and majestic, Beethoven's Emperor Concerto is virtually symphonic in conception. Beethoven nonetheless provides plenty of opportunities for pianistic brilliance.

CLASSICS VI

Da Da Da Dum!

January 30, 2009, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
January 31, 2009, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
February 1, 2009, 2pm, The National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Performers
Guillermo Figueroa, Conductor
Narciso Figueroa, Violin
Rafael Figueroa, Cello
Ivonne Figueroa, Piano

Program
Beethoven: Overture to Fidelio
Beethoven: Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5

This is the fourth overture Beethoven wrote to Fidelio. Forceful and triumphant, it reflects the joyous spirit of the Viennese as Napoleon retreated from their city. The elegant Triple Concerto is performed by three distinguished members of Maestro Figueroa's family. Listen to the inventive dialogue between the soloists and the imaginative interplays with the orchestra. Finally, classical music's most famous work. After two centuries, Beethoven's 5th - with its famous four-note 'Fate' motif - has lost none of its magic.

CLASSICS VII

Concerto for Guillermo

February 27, 2009, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
February 28, 2009, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
March 1, 2009, 2pm, The National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Performers
Leon Botstein, Guest Conductor
Guillermo Figueroa, Violin
Simon Boyar, Percussion

Program
Beethoven: Coriolan Overture
Farberman: Double Concerto for Violin and Percussion
Beethoven(arr.Weingartner): Adagio from the Hammerklavier Sonata
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8

Beethoven's Coriolan Overture expresses bravery and bombast, tenderness and tragedy in this musical picture from Roman history. Harold Farberman dedicated his fiery, explosive piece to close friend, Guillermo Figueroa, who performed at its Avery Fisher Hall premiere in early 2007. Austrian composer Felix Weingartner's orchestration retains all the passion and emotion of Beethoven's original. By contrast, the master's lyrical 8th Symphony is tranquil and light-hearted, full of musical jokes.

CLASSICS VIII

Missa Solemnis

March 20, 2009, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
March 21, 2009, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
March 22, 2009, 2pm, The National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Performers
Guillermo Figueroa, Conductor
NMSO Chorus - Roger Melone, Director
Yali-Marie Williams, Soprano
Gabriela Garcia, Mezzo Soprano
Rafael Davila, Tenor
Ricardo Lugo, Bass

Program
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

Beethoven believed the Missa Solemnis was the greatest work he had ever composed - better even than his 9th Symphony. Many critics and music lovers agree. A work that transcends any dogma, doctrine or specific religious intent, the Missa resides in the most profoundly inspired regions of Beethoven's imagination. His grandest vision of the Universe and its Creator, it contains music of eternal luminosity and beauty.

CLASSICS IX

Brahms' First

April 3, 2009, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
April 4, 2009, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
April 5, 2009, 2pm, The National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Performers
Guillermo Figueroa, Conductor
Krzysztof Zimowski, Violin

Program
Gabrieli: Sonate
Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor

Our brass section will showcase Gabrieli's simple, brilliant musical language, which came to define Italian seventeenth century Baroque music. Szymanowski was influenced by Stravinsky, Debussy and Ravel, but in this violin concerto, he turned their inspiration into his own lush, intoxicating soundscape. Always in the shadow of Beethoven, Brahms took 20 years to write his first symphony. Sometimes referred to as "Beethoven's 10th", it nonetheless has its own clear and thrilling voice.

CLASSICS X

The Genius of Youth

April 24, 2009, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
April 25, 2009, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
April 26, 2009, 2pm, The National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Performers
Carlos Miguel Prieto, Conductor
Elena Urioste, Violin

Program
Aranda: World Premiere
Glazunov: Violin Concerto in A minor
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances

The concert will open with nothing less than a world premiere, a composition by young Mexican composer Alexis Aranda commissioned by Maestro Prieto to commemorate the anniversary of Mexican Independence in 2010. Then, the youthful and talented Mexican violinist Elena Urioste will perform the romantic and thrillingly virtuosic Violin Concerto by Glazunov. Rachmaninoff brings the program to a sweeping, emotional close.

CLASSICS XI

Mahler's Resurrection

May 15, 2009, 8pm, Popejoy Hall.
May 16, 2009, 6pm, Popejoy Hall.
May 17, 2009, 2pm, Popejoy Hall. *

Performers
Guillermo Figueroa, Conductor
NMSO Chorus - Roger Melone, Director

Program
Mahler: Symphony No. 2, Resurrection

Few works are as awe-inspiring, transcendent, magical and sublime as Gustav Mahler's Resurrection. Perhaps the most ambitious work of the season, the symphony deploys a vast orchestra, including 10 French horns, 8 trumpets, multiple woodwinds, an organ, two harps, augmented strings, a massive chorus and vocal soloists. A huge and deeply moving work that some consider the natural successor to Beethoven's 9th, it will simply leave you speechless and uplifted.

* Because of the size of the orchestra, soloists and chorus, the Sunday performance of Mahler's Resurrection is at Popejoy Hall not, as is usual, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

New Mexico Symphony Orchestra; 4407 Menaul Blvd. NE; Albuquerque, NM 87190-0208
Ticket Office: (505) 881-8999 or 1-800-251-NMSO; Administration: (505) 881-9590