Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season November-December 2017 | Page 18

ANDRÉ WATTS RETURNS
FOR RACH 2
JOSEPH MEYERHOFF SYMPHONY HALL
Friday, November 17, 2017, 8 pm
Sunday, November 19, 2017, 3 pm
MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE
Saturday, November 18, 2017, 8 pm
Robert Spano, conductor
André Watts, piano
Christopher Theofanidis Dreamtime Ancestors (BSO Premiere)
Edward Elgar Falstaff, op. 68
INTERMISSION
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, op. 18
Moderato

Adagio sostenuto

Allegro scherzando

André Watts
The concert will end at approximately 10 pm on Friday and Saturday
and 5 pm on Sunday.
PRESENTING SPONSOR:
The Sunday performance is dedicated in memory of George Ruther and made
possible through the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. John and Cherie Arscott.
About the Artists
Robert Spano
Conductor, pianist,
composer and
pedagogue Robert
Spano is known
worldwide for the
intensity of his artistry and his distinctive
communicative abilities, creating a sense
of inclusion and warmth among musicians
and audiences that is unique among
American orchestras. Beginning his 16 th
season as Music Director of the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra, this imaginative
conductor has been responsible for
nurturing the careers of numerous
celebrated composers, conductors and
performers and enjoys collaborations
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OV E R T U R E / BSOmusic.org
with composers and musicians of all
ages, backgrounds and abilities. As Music
Director of the Aspen Music Festival and
School, he oversees the programming of
more than 300 events and educational
programs, including the Aspen
Conducting Academy.
The Atlanta School of Composers
reflects Spano’s commitment to American
contemporary music. He has led
ASO performances at Carnegie Hall,
Lincoln Center and the Ravinia, Ojai
and Savannah Music Festivals. Guest
engagements have included appearances
with orchestras such as the New York
and Los Angeles philharmonics; the
BBC, Boston and Chicago symphony
orchestras; the San Francisco Symphony;
the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras;
Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala; and
Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra. His opera performances include
Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera,
Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand
Opera and the 2005 and 2009 Seattle
Opera productions of Wagner’s Ring cycles.
Spano began last season with cloth
field: an art place of life, a conceptual
collaboration between Spano and
choreographer Lauri Stallings involving
dancers and sculptural elements with an
original score composed by Spano in 2014
for the Atlanta-based dance troupe, glo.
In addition to his leadership of the ASO,
Spano has recently returned to his early
love of composing. His most recent works
include Sonata: Four Elements for piano,
premiered by Spano in August at the
Aspen Music Festival, and a new song
cycle, both to be recorded for release
on the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s
ASO Media label. Spano opened the
ASO’s season with an all-Tchaikovsky
program with guest soloist Joshua Bell,
with later concerts featuring pianists
Garrick Ohlsson, Pedja Muzijevic and
Stephen Hough. An avid interpreter of
opera and oratorio, Spano conducted
John Adams’ Nixon in China at Houston
Grand Opera; Christopher Theofanidis’
Creation/Creator at the Kennedy
Center’s 2017 Shift Festival, featuring
Jessica Rivera, Sasha Cooke, Thomas
Cooley, Nmon Ford, Vinson Cole, Evan
Boyer, the ASO and ASO Chorus; and
conducted and recorded Orfeo with the
ASO and ASO Chamber Chorus.
With a discography of critically
acclaimed recordings for Telarc, Deutsche
Grammophon and ASO Media, Spano
has won six Grammy® Awards with the
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Spano is on
faculty at Oberlin Conservatory and has
received honorary doctorates from Bowling
Green State University, the Curtis Institute
of Music, Emory University and Oberlin.
Spano, who lives in Atlanta, is one of
two classical musicians inducted into the
Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
Robert Spano last appeared with the BSO
in October 2009, conducting works of
Stravinsky, Adams and Rimsky-Korsakov.