Although there are still many concerts to come in the 2017-2018 season, the Jacksonville Symphony has started looking forward to what lies ahead. This season truly has been a Season of Magic and we are excited to see where the music will take you throughout 2018-2019.
“The 2018-2019 season is full of music that the Jacksonville Symphony has come to be about and will be one of our most electrifying yet,” says Music Director Courtney Lewis. The season will open with the second annual Fanfare: An Opening Night Celebration, featuring three-time GRAMMY Award-winning Branford Marsalis. The saxophonist will perform John Williams’ Escapades for Saxophone which you may recognize from the Oscar-nominated film Catch Me If You Can. The evening is anchored with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, arguably his most popular symphony.
If Fanfare! was not exciting enough, the Florida Blue Masterworks season is back and better than ever. Opening with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and closing with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, this season is full of classical gems. Back by popular demand are favorites such as Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Verdi’s Requiem, Ravel’s Boléro and Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony.
The Jacksonville Symphony will welcome faces new and old to the stage for guest appearances. The “extravagantly talented” organist Cameron Carpenter and violinist Jennifer Koh make their Jacoby Symphony Hall debuts, while cellist Joshua Roman returns after making a splash in previous seasons. Back by popular demand from both the symphony and audience, Karina Canellakis returns to the Jacoby Symphony Hall podium to conduct a concert of Beethoven, Bartók and Mozart.
For those who love the Fidelity National Financial Pops Series, it will kick off with The Music of John Williams, bringing all of your cinematic favorites to life. The wildly popular Cirque Musica makes a return with their incredible acrobats and aerialists. Not to be forgotten is one of Jacksonville’s favorite holiday traditions, Holiday Pops. With more shows than ever, the symphony will help you ring in the holiday spirit!
What’s new in 2018-2019? For the first time, the Jacksonville Symphony will present a multi-week, Mozart Festival in January. The festival includes a performance of Mozart’s greatest opera scenes at UNF’s Lazzara Hall, and a concert that explores the more intimate side of Mozart through his incredible chamber music. At the midway point in the festival, the symphony will present a showing of the dramatic, Academy Award-winning Amadeus live with the orchestra. The film tells the story of Mozart’s contemporary, Antonio Salieri and his envy of the young master’s genius. Perhaps the most exciting moment will be the full performance of Mozart’s gripping opera Don Giovanni. This will be the first time a full opera is performed in Jacoby Symphony Hall and not in the neighboring Moran Theater.
If you have always loved attending the symphony’s live performance of classic films, be sure to attend all six Symphonic Night at the Movies concerts next season. Included in this expanded series are Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the iconic, original Star Wars and a special showing of the Hitchcock classic Psycho on the eve of Halloween.
The 2017-2018 Season of Magic will conclude in June with selections from Wagner’s epic Götterdämmerung, but right around the corner another season full of exciting musical adventures awaits. Where will the music take you?
