a message from JONATHON HEYWARD BSO MUSIC DIRECTOR
a message from JONATHON HEYWARD BSO MUSIC DIRECTOR
Welcome to the dramatic conclusion of your Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’ s 2025-26 season.
Last season, we launched the first in a multi-year celebration of the musical language of Giuseppe Verdi. The response to our performances of Aida was incredible, with sold-out houses at both the Meyerhoff and Strathmore including returning and new audiences— more than 350 households to be exact. If you were in attendance, I hope you will remember the way the performance touched your soul. I believe this response is directly tied to our intimate shared stage approach. By bringing our incredible musicians onstage and out of the pit, we create engagement across cast, choir and Orchestra, allowing emotions, orchestration, and text to be amplified. Verdi’ s music is also perfectly suited to the strength in our wind section, the boldness in our brass, and the lushness in our strings, bringing the dynamic and flexible power within your BSO on full display.
With themes of betrayal, love, fate, and vengeance, Rigoletto is the natural next program in our Verdi journey and requires a true operatic intensity. Thankfully, we once again are joined by a truly all-star cast, a remarkable group with whom I share the stage. I could not wish for better vocal soloists, led by the leading Rigoletto of today, Quinn Kelsey. I welcome the return of our incredible neighbors in The Washington Chorus, under the direction of Dr. Eugene Rogers. As was the case for Aida, this year’ s production requires a special Director who has the vision, leadership, and keen eye for unique spaces and stages to bring our performance to life. I am excited to work with Ruth
4
Knight, whom I have long admired. I once worked with Knight in London, and our Rigoletto concerts mark her U. S. debut. To prepare and perform a concert opera in two unique venues within the span of a single weekend is no easy task, and Knight’ s execution has made it so we can achieve the impossible at an even higher level.
Bringing my opera initiative to life also requires a different level of support. My profound thanks to the members of our Opera Advisory Council and Opera Giving Circle for their continued passion in promoting and advocating for the operatic art form at the BSO.
To bring the music of Verdi to Baltimore and Montgomery County remains one of the tenants of my vision as Music Director. Looking ahead to the 2026-27, we continue to expand that vision by presenting Verdi’ s Requiem. Not an opera by traditional classifications, but a true masterwork, arguably considered the most dramatic and thrilling work of sacred classical music. The performance will be reimagined as a concert-stated production in the style of our Aida and Rigoletto performances. This tradition has been popular in Europe, and I am thrilled to bring this new retelling of the Requiem to BSO audiences.
Now, it’ s time to both sit back and lean in for the full range of emotions, the sonic experience, and the transformations inside of Verdi’ s Rigoletto. Thank you for being a part of a truly incredible 2025-26 season. I hope you enjoy the performance.