Conductor Christian Reif's 2019/20 Season is Announced
Christian Reif with the Dallas Symphony (Photo credit: Sylvia Elzafon)
CONDUCTOR CHRISTIAN REIF’S 2019/20 SEASON ANNOUNCED
Subscription debuts include Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Gävle Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Romanian Radio Symphony, Brno Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra and Fundación Excelentia of Madrid
Returns to the Orchestre National de Lyon and San Francisco Symphony and collaborations with artists including Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Nicola Benedetti, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Julia Bullock
“Reif has already shown himself to be a conductor of remarkable technical acuity and expressive depth”
– San Francisco Chronicle
For Immediate Release — Conductor Christian Reif’s 2019/20 season features debuts with 10 European orchestras and 7 North American orchestras.
Reif marked a brilliant start to his season conducting the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in an opening gala concert on September 28, featuring violin virtuoso Joshua Bell. The Dallas Morning News wrote: “No less a star of the two-work gala program was the young German conductor Christian Reif. Reif fastidiously scaled and tapered dynamics, from super-hushed pianissimos charged with electricity to fortissimos that thrilled without ever overpowering. He always knew just when and how much.”
In October, Reif travels across Europe with performances in Bucharest with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra on Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Cyprus with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra on Schumann Symphony No. 3, and Madrid with Fundación Excelentia’s Santa Cecilia Classical Orchestra on Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4.
In November, he leads the Toledo Symphony featuring legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman in a program that opens with works by Dvořák and Tchaikovsky and ends with cinematic violin favorites of John Williams. He conducts an all-American program with the North Carolina Symphony, featuring works by Barber, McKay, Bernstein and Copland. He ends the year with a Royal Scottish National Orchestra debut on Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2 with Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti as soloist.
In 2020, Reif’s array of debuts continue with the San Antonio Symphony for an all-German program with works by Brahms and Wagner; Ulster Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Santa Barbara Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic and Symphony Nova Scotia; and Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguese in Lisbon on a program featuring Britten’s Sea Interludes and Debussy’s La Mer.
In Spring 2020, he returns to the Orchestre National de Lyon where he leads two Beethoven-focused programs including Symphony No. 4 and concerti with French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, juxtaposed with works by Guillaume Connesson and Brett Dean. He makes his debut with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra and Brno Philharmonic on works by Dvorak, Mendelssohn and Schumann. He culminates his season in collaborations with soprano Julia Bullock at RTE National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, where he leads a program of Shostakovich Symphony No. 6 and Britten’s Les Illuminations, and at San Francisco Symphony, where he returns for the first time since finishing his three-year post as Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony.
Highlights of Reif’s 2018/19 season included debuts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C., St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Brucknerorchester Linz. He made notable New York debuts at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival with the International Contemporary Ensemble and as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s MetLiveArts Series on a new chamber version of John Adams’s El Niño with the American Modern Opera Company, and at Opera San Jose on a production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. In July 2019, Reif concluded his tenure as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in a six-city European tour with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra including performances at Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonie and Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. Following the Berlin performance, the Merkur wrote of Reif that a “bright future and a great career must lie ahead”.
2019/20 Season Dates
September 28, 2019
DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – TEXAS
Gala Concert
Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3
Brahms: Violin Concerto (Joshua Bell, violin)
October 11, 2019
ROMANIAN RADIO ORCHESTRA – BUCHAREST
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 (Matei Varga, piano)
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
October 26, 2019
PRESIDENTIAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – CYPRUS
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 (Nihat Agdac, violin)
Schumann: Symphony No. 3
October 31, 2019
FUNDACION EXCELENTIA – MADRID
SANTA CECILIA CLASSICAL ORCHESTRA
Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Yoav Levanon, piano)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
November 12, 2019
TOLEDO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – OHIO
Dvořák: Carnival Overture
Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet Overture-Fantasy
John Williams: Selections from film scores (Itzhak Perlman, violin)
November 21-23, 2019
NORTH CAROLINA SYMPHONY – RALEIGH
Barber: School for Scandal Overture
McKay: Violin Concerto (Brian Reagin, violin)
Copland: Symphony No. 2
Bernstein: Dances from West Side Story
December 13 & 14, 2019
ROYAL SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA – EDINBURGH & GLASGOW
Shostakovich: Festive Overture
Bartok: Violin Concerto No. 2 (Nicola Benedetti, violin)
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
January 10 & 11, 2020
SAN ANTONIO SYMPHONY – TEXAS
Brahms: Symphony No. 1
Wagner: Entry of the Gods into Valhalla from Das Rheingold
Brahms: Schicksalslied
Wagner: Selections from Die Meistersinger von Nürenburg
January 23, 2020
ULSTER ORCHESTRA – BELFAST
Haydn: Symphony No. 27
Stravinsky: Symphony in C
January 29, 2020
ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE BELGIQUE – BRUSSELS
Program To Be Announced (Including Timothy Chooi and Sylvia Huang, violins)
February 15 & 16, 2020
SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY – CALIFORNIA
Gilbertson: Graffiti: Concerto for Chamber Orchestra
Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations (Thomas Mesa, cello)
Mozart: Overture to “La Clemenza di Tito”
Mozart: Symphony No. 39
February 22 & 23, 2020
COLORADO SPRINGS PHILHARMONIC – COLORADO
Cecilia Damström: Tundo!
Mozart: Symphony No. 41
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
February 29, 2020
ORQUESTRA SINFONICA PORTUGUESA – LISBON
Britten: Four Sea Interludes
Debussy: La Mer
March 12, 2020
SYMPHONY NOVA SCOTIA – CANADA
Jocelyn Morlock: My Name is Amanda Todd
Bartok: Violin Concerto No. 2 (Kerson Leong, violin)
Dvorak: Slavonic Dances, Op. 46
March 19 & 21, 2020
ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE LYON – FRANCE
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
Connesson: Flammenschrift
Beethoven: Concerto pour Piano No. 1 (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano)
Beethoven: Concerto No. 2 (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano)
Dean: Adagio molto et Mesto – Testament
Beethoven: Concerto No. 3 (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano)
March 26 & 27, 2020
BRNO PHILHARMONIC – CZECH REPUBLIC
Tüür: Phantasma
Vasks: Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra (Dominik Wollenweber, English horn)
Schumann: Symphony No. 3
April 16 & 17, 2020
GÄVLE SYMPHONY – SWEDEN
Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture
Bo Linde: Cello Concerto (Amalie Stalheim, cello)
Damström: Lucrum
Dvorak: Symphonic Variations
April 24 & 25, 2020
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY – CALIFORNIA
Soundbox Series with Julia Bullock
May 8, 2020
RTE NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – DUBLIN
Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Britten: Les Illuminations (Julia Bullock, soprano)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 6