Seven Primo Artists featured in Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's 2021/22 Season

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has announced their 2021/22 Season featuring seven of our artists!

Itzhak Perlman plays the Season Opening Concert (September 11, 2021), violinist Randall Goosby makes his debut in the first subscription concerts (September 25-26, 2021), Gemma New leads a program featuring Renée Fleming (November 11-13, 2021), Nicola Benedetti performs Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto (January 28-30, 2022), Christian Reif leads new music by Jessie Montgomery (May 5-8, 2022), pianist Beatrice Rana makes her BSO debut (June 17-19, 2022), and Wynton Marsalis’ BSO Co-Commission “Fanfare” receives its Mid-Atlantic premiere for the season’s finale (June 17-19, 2022).

Check out the concert information below:

Season Opening Concert with Itzhak Perlman
September 11, 2021

World-renowned violinist and conductor Itzhak Perlman joins the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as leader and soloist for its Season Opening Concert at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Itzhak Perlman, violin and conductor
BACH Violin Concerto No. 2
TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy-Overture
RAVEL Boléro

Bruch and Sibelius with Randall Goosby
September 25-26, 2021

Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska makes her BSO debut on the opening weekend of the season. Composer Andrea Tarrodi, whose music is praised by the BBC Music Magazine as having “…a refined musical complexity and a powerful emotional core," opens the program with Wildwood. Bruch’s first violin concerto is performed by young rising star Randall Goosby. Stasevska conducts her countryman's Second Symphony, which Sibelius himself professed was a "confession of the soul.”

Dalia Stasevska, conductor
Randall Goosby, violin
ANDREA TARRODI Wildwood
BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2

The Sea and the Light with Gemma New
November 11-13, 2021

New Zealand-born conductor Gemma New, recently named the 2021 recipient of The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, leads a program of works that draw inspirations from art and the sea. Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture and Debussy’s La mer take listeners on a journey through the misty winds and waves of Scottish and French seas. Kevin Puts’ The Brightness of Light pulls emotions from letters exchanged between painter Georgia O’Keeffe and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Paired with stunning visuals from the couple, opera superstars Renée Fleming and Rod Gilfry give voice to O’Keeffe and Stieglitz.

Gemma New, conductor
Renée Fleming, soprano
Rod Gilfry, baritone
MENDELSSOHN The Hebrides Overture
DEBUSSY La mer
KEVIN PUTS The Brightness of Light

Benedetti Performs Marsalis Violin Concerto
January 28-30, 2022

Marin Alsop returns to the podium for a world premiere by composer and sound artist Angélica Castelló. Following the premiere, Grammy® Award-winner Nicola Benedetti performs Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto in D Major, a work written specially for her. Saint-Saëns’ brilliant “Organ” Symphony crowns the program.

Marin Alsop, conductor
Nicola Benedetti, violin
ANGÉLICA CASTELLÓ Star Washers (World Premiere and BSO Commission)
WYNTON MARSALIS Violin Concerto in D Major
SAINT-SAËNS Symphony No. 3, “Organ”

Awadagin Pratt Returns with Christian Reif
May 5-8, 2022

Acclaimed pianist Awadagin Pratt performs a new piano concerto by Jessie Montgomery, whose music has been described as “turbulent, wildly colorful, and exploding with life” by The Washington Post. German conductor Christian Reif guides the orchestra in one of Mozart’s final symphonies and two phenomenal operatic works, pairing the unchecked ferocity of Henze’s “Mänadentanz” with the frivolity of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier Suite.

Christian Reif, conductor
Awadagin Pratt, piano
HENZE “Mänadentanz” from The Bassarids
MOZART Symphony No. 39
JESSIE MONTGOMERY Piano Concerto (BSO Co-Commission)
STRAUSS Der Rosenkavalier Suite

Rachmaninoff Rhapsody with Beatrice Rana
June 17-19, 2022

The final concert of the season includes Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini featuring Italian pianist Beatrice Rana, whose playing is noted by The London Times as having "a kind of Orphic seductiveness, a transcendent lightness of touch.” The rhapsody has a historical connection to the region, as it was premiered by Rachmaninoff himself at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore. Closing the program, James Conlon leads the orchestra in a moving performance of Shostakovich’s dramatic “Leningrad” Symphony in which dueling brass sections represent the competing armies during the siege of Leningrad.

James Conlon, conductor
Beatrice Rana, piano
WYNTON MARSALIS Fanfare (BSO Co-Commission)
RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 7, “Leningrad”

To read the more about the BSO 2021/22 season, click here.