Beethoven’s Fifth, Mahler’s Third, and Carmina Burana Featured on Classic Series
Beethovens of the Future Featured Alongside Classics of the Repertoire
One-Night Only Special with Violinist Itzhak Perlman performing an Evening at the Movies
3 Commissions Including 2022 Pulitzer Prize-Winner for Music, Raven Chacon
Soloists Paul Huang, Sasha Cooke, Kerson Leong, David Fray and Lauren Roth
Cellist Tommy Mesa as Artist in Residence
¡Celebración Latina! series includes Three Mexican Tenors, and Venezuelan artists,
Christian Vásquez and Gabriela Martinez
Superb ABBA tribute and Movies in Concert: Frozen and Star Wars: The Force Awakens
TUCSON, MARCH 1: The Tucson Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is proud to announce its 2024-2025 season: Discover the Mix. The season draws on the rich heritage of classical music greats, juxtaposed with new music created by some of the most exciting and diverse voices composing today: the Beethovens of the future. In his 8th season as music director, Maestro José Luis Gomez and the 75 musicians of the TSO will be joined by world class guest artists across Classic, Masterworks, and Special Event concerts.
Itzhak Perlman Returns for an Evening at the Movies
Making a welcome return to Tucson after 11 years is the most well-known and beloved violinist of his generation, Itzhak Perlman. He brings a special program, an Evening at the Movies, on Thursday, January 16, 2025. The one-night special concert features the most cherished, memorable violin passages from the silver screen by John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Erich Korngold and others including works written especially for Perlman such as Schindler’s List. Considered the reigning virtuoso of the violin, Itzhak Perlman is the recipient of multiple Grammy and Emmy Awards, a Kennedy Center Honor, and multiple presidential distinctions. He has performed with every major orchestra and his appearance in Tucson affirms the Symphony’s commitment to bring music experiences of the highest quality to the region.
New Commissioned Works as part of focus on Beethovens of the Future
The 2024-2025 season features TSO’s broadest picture yet of the classical music world today. The orchestra will perform works by emerging and well-known living composers, many in their TSO debuts: Jessie Montgomery (Divided and Starburst), Anna Clyne (This Midnight Hour), Missy Mazzoli (These Worlds In Us), Laura Vega (Angel de Luz), and Gabriela Ortiz (Kauyumari). The season will also feature three commissioned works by Raven Chacon, Xavier Muzik, and Chelsea Komschlies. The 2022 Pulitzer Prize winner for music and a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, Arizona-born Chacon will write his first major orchestra work, co-commissioned by the TSO, for its debut on Dvořák and the American Experience. Muzik and Komschlies were both previously featured on the TSO/American Composers Orchestra Earshot collaboration in 2022. The world premieres of their new works appear respectively on Mahler and Schumann and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. Komschlies’ commission is supported by the League of American Orchestra’s Toulmin Commissions program. Together, these collected works have a finger on the pulse of what is new, offering some of the best of the American, multi-cultural and international voices writing music today.
Celebrating the Region’s Cultural Heritage with ¡Celebración latina!
The third year of ¡Celebración latina! brings new music, guest artists, and special events together to celebrate the unique and vibrant cultural heritage of the region. The season’s programs include:
- Lauren Roth plays Beethoven featuring a work by 18th century composer, Antonio Sarrier (Spain/Mexico)
- Elgar’s Enigma Variations featuring the work of Teresa Carreño (Venezuela) and Laura Vega (Spain) and conductor Christian Vásquez (Venezuela)
- The Three Mexican Tenors (Mexico) conducted by Maestro José Luis Gomez (Venezuela/Spain)
- November Up Close and Haydn & Brahms featuring Artist in Residence Tommy Mesa (Cuba/US)
- Chopin and Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet featuring pianist Gabriela Martinez (Venezuela)
- Carmina Burana featuring the work of Gabriela Ortiz (Mexico) and baritone Octavio Moreno (Mexico)
Classics with a Twist
Classics with a Twist, the new series that offers a fresh, engaging take on the classical concert-going experience, returns for three Friday Classic concerts: Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Beethoven’s Fifth, and Dvořák and the American Experience. Built around a full program with musical excerpts and insightful comments are pre-concert live music in the Twist Lounge with specialty cocktails, and a post-concert Q & A with conductors and guest artists to bring audiences closer to the music.
Women Composers Spotlight
Each year under Maestro Gomez’s artistic leadership, the TSO has sought to highlight the music of women composers, who historically have been under-represented in symphony programs. 2024-25 season showcases the most ever in a single TSO season. Five of the eight Classic concerts, and three of the five Masterworks series, feature living or earlier generation women composers including:
- Anna Clyne
- Laura Vega
- Clara Schumann
- Jessie Montgomery
- Augusta Holmès
- Chelsea Komschlies
- Missy Mazzoli
- Gabriela Ortiz
Classic Series
Mozart and Tchaikovsky (September 27 & 29, 2024)
The 2024-2025 Classic Series opens with Anna Clyne’s The Midnight Hour and French pianist David Fray making his TSO debut in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6 “Pathétique” completes Maestro Gomez’s exploration of the composer’s last great 3 symphonies.
Elgar’s Enigma Variations (October 18 & 20, 2024)
TSO Percussionists Trevor Barroero and Fred Morgan are soloists for Laura Vega’s Angel de Luz. Making his TSO debut, Venezuelan conductor Christian Vásquez directs Sibelius’ Finlandia, a work by his compatriot Inocente Carreño, and Elgar’s orchestral showpiece, Enigma Variations.
Beethoven’s Fifth (November 15 & 17, 2024)
Maestro Gomez and the TSO demonstrate their musical chemistry in Beethoven (Leonore Overture No.3 and the Symphony No.5) and Bartók’s folk-inspired masterpiece, the Concerto for Orchestra.
Haydn and Brahms (December 13 & 15, 2024)
2024-25 Artist in Residence Tommy Mesa, cello, makes his TSO debut in two concertos, the classic Haydn and Jessie Montgomery’s Divided. Guest conductor, Francesco Lecce-Chong, makes his TSO debut in Brahms’ Symphony No.2
Mahler’s Third Symphony (January 24 & 26, 2025)
World-renowned mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and the large forces of the TSO Chorus under the direction of Marcela Molina perform Mahler’s awe-inspiring hymn to nature, the Symphony No.3, led by Maestro Gomez.
Dvořák and the American Experience (February 21 & 23, 2025)
An all-Dvořák first half pairs two iconic Slavonic Dances with the Violin Concerto performed by Paul Huang, who delighted audiences in 2022. The world premiere of a new work by Raven Chacon, a Diné composer, musician and artist, originally from Fort Defiance, Arizona, is followed by a celebration of Black History Month, William Grant Still’s Symphony No.1, “Afro-American.”
Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet (March 14 & 16, 2025)
Conductor Daniela Candillari makes her TSO debut, in a program that includes Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 performed by Venezuelan pianist, Gabriela Martinez. Candillari introduces Missy Mazzoli’s These Worlds In Us and a selection of ballet music from Prokofiev’s most popular score, Romeo & Juliet.
Carmina Burana (April 4 & 6, 2025)
Maestro Gomez closes with Orff’s mighty cantata featuring the TSO Chorus and soloists Ashley Fabian, Joseph Tancredi, and Octavio Moreno. He prefaces it with short works by the Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz and the latest exploration of the music of former Tucson-based composer, Robert Muczynski.
The Classic series concerts are Friday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2:00 PM at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall.
Masterworks Series
Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (October 5 & 6, 2024)
Concertmaster Lauren Roth opens the season with the most famous and beloved concerto in the repertoire. Maestro Gomez introduces the rediscovered 18th century music of Spanish-Mexican composer, Antonio Sarrier, and continues his survey of Schubert’s symphonies, with the Third.
Mendelssohn and Korngold (November 9 & 10, 2024)
Movies are the first-half theme with a suite from Bernard Herrmann’s score for Psycho and Kerson Leong’s performance of the romantic Violin Concerto by Korngold, composed during his Hollywood years. Nicholas Hersh introduces his own orchestration of a set of piano pieces by Clara Schumann, followed by Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.5 “Reformation.”
French Impressions (January 11 & 12, 2025)
Tucson-based Jing Xia, master of the guzheng, plays Tan Dun’s concerto on this extraordinary 21-string Chinese zither. Chinese conductor Sunny Xia makes her TSO debut with a second half of late 19th century French bon bons by Fauré, Debussy, and the little-known Augusta Holmès. Xia begins the program with Jessie Montgomery’s lively opener, Starburst.
Mahler and Schumann (February 1 & 2, 2025)
Sasha Cooke performs a second week of Mahler, singing several Rückert-Lieder. José Luis Gomez conducts Schumann’s Symphony No.3 “Rhenish,” and the world premiere of a Virginia Toulmin commission by Chelsea Komschlies. Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade honors Black History Month.
Peter and the Wolf (March 8 & 9, 2025)
The Masterworks series closes with an eclectic, mostly-Russian program including Prokofiev’s charming classic Peter and the Wolf. Maestro Gomez leads the world premiere of a work by Xavier Muzik, winner of the 2023 Emerging Black Composers Project, before rounding out the season with Mussorgky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Shostakovich’s Symphony No.9.
The Masterworks Series, by popular demand, will now feature a Saturday matinee on all concerts.
Performances are Saturday at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2:00 PM at Catalina Foothills High School.
Special Events
An Enchanted Evening with the Three Mexican Tenors (November 23 & 24, 2024)
Tenors Jorge Lopez-Yañez, Bernardo Bermudez, and José Luis Ordóñez join Maestro Gomez and the TSO for an upbeat evening of operatic and Mexican popular favorites.
Disney’s Frozen in Concert (December 7 at 6:00PM & 8 at 2:00PM, 2024)
Arendelle comes to Tucson in Disney’s Frozen In Concert, the full movie with the score performed live by the TSO, a holiday spectacular for the whole family.
Messiah (December 21 & 22, 2024), Catalina Foothills High School
The TSO, TSO chorus and guest soloists present the full majesty of Handel’s oratorio including the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ conducted by Christopher Allen, making his TSO debut.
Symphonic Sci-Fi (February 15 & 16, 2024)
Pops maestro Jeff Tyzik conducts the greatest hits from sci-fi movies and TV, including epic music from Star Wars, Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey, ET and more.
ABBA: ARRIVAL from Sweden (March 22 & 23, 2025)
The TSO joins forces with a tribute to the Swedish super group.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Live in Concert (May 17 &18, 2025)
The epic Star Wars saga continues with the TSO performing John Williams’ score live to the movie.
Performances are Saturday at 7.30PM and Sunday at 2.00PM (unless otherwise noted) at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall (except Messiah).
Up Close
The Up Close chamber series features TSO musicians presenting innovative programming in an intimate setting. Concerts are October 11 & 12, 2024, November 2 & 3, 2024 (featuring Artist in Residence Tommy Mesa, cello), February 8 & 9, 2025, and March 29 & 30, 2025.
Performances are Saturday at 7.30PM and Sunday at 2.00PM at Tucson Symphony Center.
Ticketing information
Subscriptions for the 2024-2025 season are available beginning March 1. Tickets for Itzhak Perlman are exclusive to subscribers through October 1, and all other single tickets will be available August 1.
About the Tucson Symphony Orchestra
The first professional symphony orchestra in the Southwest, the TSO is the longest continuously performing professional arts organization in Arizona, where it impacts more than 120,000 lives each year. The mission of the organization is to engage, educate and transform our community through live musical experiences of the highest quality. Under the baton of Music Director José Luis Gomez, the TSO engages with audiences of all ages through concerts, educational programming, and outreach.
