Symphony Parnassus begins its new season

The 2010–2011 season of Symphony Parnassus will begin on Sunday afternoon, November 14.  They will offer four concerts between now and June, all conducted by Stephen Paulson.  Here are the specifics:

1. Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 3 PM in Herbst Theatre:  The featured soloist will be the thirteen-year-old violinist Alina Ming Kobialka performing Samuel Barber’s violin concerto.  To further honor the centennial of Barber’s birth this year, the orchestra will also perform his “Fadograph of a Yestern Scene.”  The other orchestral selection will be Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s concert overture, “Romeo and Juliet.”
2. Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 3 PM in the Concert Hall of the San Francisco Conservatory:  This program will feature two soloists.  Paulson’s colleague in the bassoon section of the San Francisco Symphony, Steven Dibner, will perform Paulson’s 1967 bassoon concerto.  In addition Victor Romasevich, Parnassus concertmaster and first violinist in the San Francisco Symphony, will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 271a violin concerto.  Mozart will also be represented by the overture to his Marriage of Figaro opera (K. 492).  The program will conclude with Richard Strauss’ “Till Eulenspiegel” tone poem.
3. Sunday, March 27, 2011 at 3 PM in the Concert Hall of the San Francisco Conservatory:  This concert will feature a particularly unique soloist, Seth Asarnow, performing on bandoneon.  As might be guessed, he will be contributing to a suite by Astor Piazzola, Punta del Este.  In addition pianist Scott Foglesong of the San Francisco Conservatory faculty (and my predecessor as SF Classical Music Examiner) will perform the world premiere of a concerto by Conservatory graduate Stefan Cwik.  The program will conclude with a performance of Igor Stravinsky’s score for the ballet The Rite of Spring.
4. Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 3 PM in the Old First Church:  The soloist will be Keisuke Nakagoshi, who serves as an accompanist at the San Francisco Conservatory (and provides ten of the fingers in the ZOFO “20FingerOrchestra”);  and he will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto.  The program will also feature the West Coast premiere of the Opus 8 by Arshak Andriasov, titled simple “Ballet.”  Andriasov is the son of the Russian composer Iosif Andriasov, who was one of Romasevich’s teachers and whose music has received considerable exposure here in San Francisco (due in part to Romasevich’s influence).  Arshak’s Opus 7 was performed by Romasevich’s Jupiter Chamber Players last June, and I am personally looking forward to the opportunity to sample his music again.  The concert (and season) will then conclude with a performance of Antonín Dvořák's ninth symphony (“From the New World”).

Tickets are sold individually for each concert.  Premium seating tickets cost $22 with $20 for regular seating and $15 for students and seniors.  Tickets can be purchased online at City Box Office or in person by visiting City Box Office during business hours at 180 Redwood Street, Suite 100 (just east of Van Ness between McAllister and Golden Gate).  They may also be acquired by phone at 415-392-4400 or picked up on site on the day of the concert after 1:30 PM.  For further information call 415-728-5997.