NIAGARA SYMPHONY'S 63RD SEASON
EXCITING LINE UP OF PERFORMANCES TO BEGIN OCTOBER 2010
The Niagara Symphony announced a line-up of outstanding classical and contemporary programming – new and old favourites – that will make up an exciting 2010/2011 Season. All concerts take place at Brock University’s Sean O’Sullivan Theatre.
Following on the success of the current season, which saw sold-out performances and numerous standing ovations, the 2010/2011 Season – the Symphony’s 63rd – will include 4 MasterWorks concerts and 4 pairs of POPS! concerts beginning in October 2010 and ending in May 2011. This will also be the first season with the Symphony’s new Music Director, to be announced later this Spring, following a year-long search that saw four talented candidates vying for the podium.
MasterWorks Series
The Season will begin with the first MasterWorks concert An Opening Celebration presented on Sunday, October 3 and featuring Canada’s premiere cello soloist, Shauna Rolston. Shauna will delight audiences with the serene Elegy by Gabriel Fauré and Tchaikovsky’s dazzling Variations on a Rococo Theme. Closing out the programme will be Brahms’ glorious Second Symphony!
The MasterWorks series continues with The Four Seasons on Sunday, November 28 featuring two of the most famous works from the orchestral repertoire – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (including a Sonnet for each “season”, attributed to Vivaldi himself) with the wonderful talent of Julia Wedman in the dual role of conductor and violinist. And Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, conducted byLaura Thomas, the Symphony’s Associate Conductor.
Kicking off the New Year, and brightening up a winter afternoon, is Afternoon Delights featuring de Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance and Beethoven’s Pastorale Symphony. This concert, on Sunday January 30, 2011 will feature our own Principal French Horn, Austin Hitchcock in a virtuosic performance of Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto #1 – a work that will leave you breathless!
The final MasterWorks concert, A Scottish Affair, will take place on Sunday April 3 and will feature the pianistic talents of Niagara Falls’ native Blair Salter performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto #21, the second movement of which was made famous as the love theme from the movie Elvira Madigan. Closing out the programme and the Series will be Felix Mendelssohn’s blazing Scottish Symphony!
POPS! Series
In the first programme in the POPS! Series, audiences will be treated to the artistic virtuosity of the Niagara Symphony as individual musicians are highlighted with solo appearances, accompanied by the entire Symphony, that will leave you truly amazed at our Symphonic All-Stars – Saturday, October 23 and Sunday October 24.
The Holiday POPS! concert is a beloved tradition for many in the Niagara Region; a fun-filled family-oriented concert of old-time seasonal favourites together with new and exciting surprises. A Niagara Holiday Fantasy will take place on Saturday, December 11 and Sunday, December 12. Last December’s Holiday POPS! was a sell-out, so tickets will be scarce!
Hey Niagara, You’ve Got Talent, Saturday February 26 and Sunday February 27, will be an exciting POPS! programme featuring you as the talent – accompanied by the full Niagara Symphony! (Don’t worry; we will feature only the very best Niagara has to offer!) Associate Conductor Laura Thomas will lead auditions throughout the entire Niagara Region to discover and showcase examples of the outstanding talent we have, right here in our midst.
The 2010/2011 Season will conclude with a final POPS! programme of orchestral and vocal selections of Light Classics to Broadway featuring Theodore Baerg (a native of Niagara-on-the-Lake) and his wife, the beautiful and talented, Irena Welhasch Baerg (star of Phantom of the Opera). Selections will range from Rossini to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Puccini to Rogers & Hammerstein.
2010/2011 Season 
