Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Begins its 98th Season with New Music Director at the Helm

    KALAMAZOO, MI, September 11, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra (KSO) launches its 2018-19 season when its newly installed music director, Julian Kuerti, leads Van Cliburn Competition-winning pianist Di Wu and the KSO on groundbreaking French and French-inspired music by Frédéric Devreese, Maurice Ravel, and Hector Berlioz on Friday, September 14, at 8 p.m., at Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo. Tickets are available through the Miller box office or at kalamazoosymphony.com.

"It is exciting to return to Kalamazoo to perform this breathtaking Ravel concerto," said Wu. "I was honored to play another Ravel piece in the 2008 Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, making this a particularly meaningful concert that brings me back 'home,' in a sense, to Kalamazoo."

"This week we open our season with a wonderful French program featuring Ravel's sparkling 'Piano Concerto in G' and Berlioz's blockbuster 'Symphonie fantastique,'" said Kuerti. "I can't wait to be back in Kalamazoo for my first appearance as music director of the KSO. I look forward to many great concerts this season and in the years to come."

With his "Symphonie fantastique," considered the first psychedelic symphony in history, Berlioz staggered the musical world. His imaginative use of narrative and his sophisticated and innovative orchestration established the great French tradition of color and nuance. In the next century, no composer carried the mantle further than Maurice Ravel. In Ravel's hands, the orchestra produces the clearest sonorities full of color, nuance, and brilliance. In his "Piano Concerto in G," Ravel displays his total mastery of the orchestra, conjuring the most vivid and brilliant colors from the orchestra. Just like Berlioz a century earlier, Ravel set a new standard for composers around the world. Today, the cumulative influence of Berlioz and Ravel is seen in the music of composers across the world. In Belgium, the French sound thrives in the work of Frédéric Devreese, who continues to write exquisite music in the French tradition in his 89th year.

Concert Schedule and Tickets
Concert-goers may enjoy the work of a quartet from Kalamazoo Trumpet Workshop students beginning at 6:45 p.m. in front of the Miller Auditorium complex. The Wiser Financial Concert Prelude, a popular pre-concert talk held from 7-7:30 p.m., is free for ticket holders and provides insights into the program's music and artists. The evening's Student Showcase features Orchestra Rouh in the Grand Tier lobby at 7:30, with the concert beginning at 8 p.m. Immediately following the concert, guests may also attend the KSO's new, immersive AfterWORDS discussion with Kuerti and Wu in the auditorium.

Tickets start at $24 and may be purchased online through the KSO's box office, or by calling the Miller Auditorium box office at 269.387.2300. Student and veteran discounts are available. Student $5 Rush Tickets, with a valid ID, and $10 Harvey's Hideaway seating are available at the box office the night of the concert.

Visit the KSO at kalamazoosymphony.com for performance details, ticketing and schedules. Prices, artists, dates, times and programs are subject to change without notice.

The KSO receives major support from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The KSO also receives generous support from other local, state and national foundations, as well as private and corporate support.

About the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
Founded in 1921, the KSO (kalamazoosymphony.com) is Southwest Michigan's premiere musical organization and the state's third largest orchestra. Serving Michigan's fourth largest metropolitan area, the KSO provides more than 30 concert performances each year, reaching more than 80,000 adults and youth annually with exceptional symphonic music and world-class guest artists. With an equally vibrant educational mission, the KSO offers school-based programs that music teachers rely on to support their curriculum and after-school programs that have been recognized by the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards and Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute. The KSO has won numerous awards and grants, including the Met Life Award for Arts Access in Underserved Communities, the National Endowment for the Arts for its extensive education programs, and a major Ford Foundation grant to establish its innovative Artists in Residence program.

MEDIA CONTACT: Julie White, (269) 216.6780, [email protected]

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