DSO: Fabio Luisi leads Dallas SO in complete concert “Ring” cycle

Fabio Luisi and the Dallas Symphony (photo: Sylvia Elzafon)

“Riveting, start to finish.” – Dallas Morning News on Fabio Luisi and the Dallas Symphony’s
season-opening concert

(March 2024) — In his fifth season as Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn Music Director of the Dallas
Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Grammy-winning conductor Fabio Luisi helms eleven programs
in the 2024-25 Texas Instruments Classical Series. Included are opera-in-concert performances
of all four operas in the Ring cycle (Oct 13, 15, 17, 20), in addition to standalone performances
of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (Oct 5 & 8). This groundbreaking undertaking marks a first
for any U.S. orchestra in recent history. Other highlights of Luisi’s season include world
premieres by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon (Feb 6–9), Opus
Klassik-nominated DSO composer-in-residence Sophia Jani (March 6–9) and Sean Shepherd,
“an exciting composer of the new American generation” (New York Times) who recently
completed his tenure as the Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow of the Cleveland Orchestra (April
17–19); Dallas premieres of Arlene Sierra’s new work, Kiskadee (March 6–9) and Julia Perry’s
Stabat Mater (March 14–16); collaborations with starry soloists including Augustin Hadelich
(Jan 30–Feb 2), Lang Lang (Sep 28) and Hélène Grimaud (March 14–16); Mahler’s
“Resurrection” Symphony (May 30–June 1); and much more. Each of Luisi’s 2023–24
performances with the Dallas Symphony will also be available for streaming – generally within a
month of the live event – through the Next Stage Digital Concert Series. These filmed
performances can be accessed at the DSO’s website.

Luisi reflects:

“Going into my fifth year of this musical partnership with the incredible musicians at the DSO, we
have developed a distinctively ‘Dallas’ sound, of which I am immensely proud. We are playing at a
high artistic level, and I look forward to building upon that and sharing beautiful music with Dallas
audiences in the 2024–25 concert season.”

Kim Noltemy, Ross Perot President & CEO of the Dallas Symphony, adds:

“The DSO is thrilled to unveil programming for the 2024–25 concert season, and we hope our
patrons and subscribers are just as excited to see what’s in store for the upcoming season. We
have packed the season with well-loved classics, a fantastic lineup of guest artists and conductors,
dynamic new works from composers never-before-heard in Dallas and so much more. Fabio
Luisi’s inspired leadership of the orchestra has built a loyal and enthusiastic following with our
audiences, and we couldn’t be more excited by the projects he will be bringing to the stage next
season, especially our first-ever cycle of Wagner’s epic Ring operas.”

Ring Cycle in Concert

Following concert performances of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in spring 2024, the orchestra
presents Siegfried and Götterdämmerung in the fall (Oct 5 & 8), before giving concert accounts
over the course of a week of the entire Ring cycle, becoming the first U.S. orchestra in recent
history to do so (Oct 13, 15, 17, 20). This enormous endeavor is the culmination of many years
of planning by DSO artistic staff and leadership and features a huge orchestra of over 100 players
and a cast of more than 30 vocalists on stage at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The
star-studded cast list includes soprano Lise Lindstrom (Brünnhilde), soprano Sara Jakubiak
(Sieglinde), mezzo-soprano Deniz Uzun (Fricka), tenor Daniel Johansson (Siegfried),
bass-baritone Mark Delavan (Wotan), and baritone Tómas Tómasson (Alberich). The staging
director for the production will be Alberto Triola, who also produced the DSO’s opera-in-concert
performances of Richard Strauss’ Salome in 2020 and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in 2022.

Fabio Luisi’s work in opera is extensive and celebrated, with nine years at the helm of the Zurich
Opera and six years as Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, during which he won
a Grammy Award for his leadership of the last two operas of the Ring Cycle. Luisi says:

“The Ring cycle is one of the deepest and most complex musical works that has ever been written.
It is all of humanity brought to the stage – family, love, sex, loss, consequences and the quest for
power. Across the entirety of the story, with beautiful music and beautiful text guiding you, you
are transformed at the end.”

This project is generously supported by Mercedes T. Bass, Joanne Bober, Diane and Hal Brierley,
Susan and Mark Geyer, Joe Hubach and Colleen O’Connor, Jo Jagoda, Holly and Tom Mayer, the
Eugene McDermott Foundation, the Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation, Sarah Titus and Jean
Ann Titus, and Kern and Marnie Wildenthal.

Premieres

Known as “one of America’s best at commissioning new works,” (D Magazine), the DSO and Luisi
continue their longstanding tradition of championing contemporary composers with three
DSO-commissioned world premieres during the 2024–25 season. First, they collaborate with
Native American, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon on a new orchestral work to be
performed in February, on a program with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Bruch’s Violin
Concerto, featuring DSO concertmaster Alexander Kerr as soloist (Feb 6–9).

Next up, Luisi conducts the world premiere of a new work by DSO composer-in-residence
Sophia Jani – 2023 Musical Artist in Residence of the Arvo Pärt Centre and an Opus Klassik
nominee – on a program that also features the Dallas premiere of Arlene Sierra’s new work,
Kiskadee, which was commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with the generous
support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. The program is rounded out by Rachmaninoff’s
Piano Concerto No. 3 with Argentinian pianist Nelson Goerner – “one of those discreet artists
whose career is immense” (Le Monde) – making his DSO debut, and Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel
(March 6–9).

Finally, Luisi leads the world premiere of Sean Shepherd’s Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet
and Bassoon and Orchestra, featuring DSO Principals David Buck (Principal Flute, Joy & Ronald
Mankoff Chair), Erin Hannigan (Principal Oboe, Nancy P. & John G. Penson Chair), Gregory
Raden (Principal Clarinet, Mr. & Mrs. C. Thomas May, Jr. Chair) and Ted Soluri (Principal
Bassoon, Irene H. Wadel & Robert I. Atha, Jr. Chair). Also on that program is Mendelssohn’s
“Scottish” Symphony (April 17–19).

Recordings

The DSO and Luisi will record two performances next season for future commercial release on the
in-house label DSO Live, beginning with the March 2025 performances of Sophia Jani’s world
premiere and Arlene Sierra’s Kiskadee.

The following performance will also be recorded for future release; that program features Luisi
conducting Brahms Symphony No. 4, the final installment in his initiative with the orchestra to
record all four of the Romantic composer’s symphonies. The same program features pianist
Hélenè Grimaud performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto, along with the Dallas premiere of
Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater, with South African mezzo-soprano Siphokazi Molteno as soloist
(March 14–16).

In addition, during the current season, Franz Schmidt’s unjustly neglected oratorio, The Book
with Seven Seals, will be recorded in March 2024 and is slotted for future release on DSO Live.

Other Highlights

Luisi conducts four other performances next season in addition to the Ring cycle in concert. He
opens his season with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Gala, welcoming special guest Lang Lang
for a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (Sep 28). In November, Luisi
welcomes Italian-American violinist Francesca Dego, praised by Gramophone for “playing that
combines tonal purity, verve and an evident delight in the unexpected,” for a performance of
Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, along with Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony (Nov 22–24).

For his first DSO performances of the New Year, Luisi is joined by Grammy-winning violinist
Augustin Hadelich, who performs Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D. Also on the program is
Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony (Jan 30–Feb 2). For the grand finale of his season with the DSO,
Luisi conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” following his leadership of the same
composer’s Symphony No. 5 during the present season, which marks their first full presentation
of a Mahler symphony together. Soloists for the “Resurrection” Symphony are soprano Sofia
Fomina and mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison, with the performance also featuring the Dallas
Symphony Chorus (May 30–June 1). The “Resurrection” Symphony holds special significance for
Dallas symphony-goers as the first subscription concert ever performed at the newly opened
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in 1989 under former Music Director Eduardo Mata.

High-resolution photos can be downloaded here.

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Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Fabio Luisi, 2024–25 Season

(All concerts take place at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX.)

DSO Gala

Sep 28
Lang Lang piano
RACHMANINOFF : Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C minor

Texas Instruments Classical Series

Oct 5–20
Wagner’s Ring Cycle
Oct 5: Siegfried
Oct 8: Götterdämmerung
Oct 13: Das Rheingold
Oct 15: Die Walküre
Oct 17: Siegfried
Oct 20: Götterdämmerung
Principal cast to include:
Lise Lindstrom, soprano (Brünnhilde)
Sara Jakubiak, soprano (Sieglinde)
Deniz Uzun, mezzo-soprano (Fricka)
Daniel Johansson, tenor (Siegfried)
Mark Delavan, bass-baritone (Wotan)
Tómas Tómasson, baritone (Alberich)
Staging Director: Alberto Triola

Nov 22–24
Francesca Dego, violin
BEETHOVEN: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D, Op. 61
MOZART: Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter”

Jan 30–Feb 2
Augustin Hadelich, violin
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 7 in E

Feb 6–9
Alexander Kerr, violin
Raven CHACON: Orchestra work (*world premiere)
BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 in C minor
*Generously funded by the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund

March 6–9
Nelson Goerner, piano
Sophia JANI: Orchestral work (*world premiere)
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
Arlene SIERRA: Kiskadee (*DSO co-commission; Kiskadee was commissioned by the League of American
Orchestras with the generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation)
R. STRAUSS: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28
*Generously funded by the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund

March 14–16
Hélenè Grimaud, piano
Siphokazi Molteno, mezzo-soprano
JULIA PERRY: Stabat Mater
SCHUMANN: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 4 in E minor

April 17–19
David Buck, flute
Erin Hannigan, oboe
Gregory Raden, clarinet
Ted Soluri, bassoon
Sean SHEPHERD: Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon and Orchestra (*world premiere)
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, “Scottish”
*Generously funded by the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund

May 30–June 1
Sofia Fomina, soprano
Catriona Morison, mezzo-soprano
Dallas Symphony Chorus
Anthony Blake Clark, chorus director
MAHLER: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection”

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© 21C Media Group, March 2024