PLAYING IT SAFE: Would you like the good news first or the bad? Since this bit of news is coming from a press release, you can imagine the good comes first: The Fort Worth Opera will finish in the black this year. Exactly how black is still to be determined, but the opera’s Development Director [...]
A YEAR OF JAAP: In his first year on the podium, Dallas Symphony Orchestra music director Jaap van Zweden has won over his musicians, concertgoers and critics – pretty much the holy trinity for any conductor. And one of those critics, Scott Cantrell, says Van Zweden has the DSO on the cusp of the orchestral [...]
Dallas Symphony Orchestra music director Jaap Van Zweden recently took part in the Nasher Salon 2009 Lecture Series. Van Zweden discusses his vision for the DSO with Mark Melson, vice president of artistic operations for the symphony, in this video.
But not for two years. Spring for Music, a new independent annual festival of North American orchestras, has invited the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to perform at Carnegie Hall as part of their inaugural festival May 6-14 — in 2011. Two cool things about their appearance, though: It will be conductor Jaap van Zweden’s Carnegie debut. [...]
The Chicago Tribune reviews DSO conductor Jaap van Zweden’s last-minute-substitute performance: One of these days the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will actually invite Jaap van Zweden into Symphony Center through the front door. The last time we heard the remarkable Dutchman conduct the orchestra was in October when he was brought in to replace Riccardo Chailly. [...]
By coincidence, critic Hugh Canning took in performances of North Texas’ two leading symphony directors for the Sunday Times of London — in productions of La Boheme and Die Meistersinger von Nuremburg. The Puccini opera was directed by Jonathan Miller for the English National Opera and was conducted by Fort Worth Symphony’s Miguel Harth-Bedoya. Canning [...]
The top 20 symphony orchestras in the world, according to Gramophone magazine. No, the Dallas Symphony isn’t on it, neither is the Fort Worth Symphony. But then, the Philadelphia isn’t, either, causing a degree of whispering. One promising note for the DSO, however: In the #1 spot is the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. That’s where the [...]
The Chicago Tribune sized up DSO conductor Jaap van Zweden last week, before he arrived to conduct Bruckner’s 5th symphony as an emergency replacement for Riccardo Chailly — and reported, more or less, that they were cautiously impressed. This weekend, the Sun-Times agreed. Andrew Patner, critic-at-large for Chicago’s WFMT, wrote that, “On the strength of [...]
He’s coming in as a replacement for guest conductor Riccardo Chailly to perform Bruckner’s Fifth: Little known outside the Netherlands until last year when he was named music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard-trained violinist turned conductor has been stirring up a remarkable degree of buzz in the symphonic world. And the buzz [...]
The following review was written by Dallas music critic Olin Chism. Scroll down for links to what others are saying. It’s always risky to predict the fate of a new composition, but August 4, 1964 by Steven Stucky and Gene Scheer packs enough power that an extended series of performances seems a safe bet. The [...]
