This September, North Texas’ concert halls will be full of beautiful music.
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra begins its 2023-2024 season this month, performing a series of concerts at the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Dallas Arts District.
“September at the Dallas Symphony has something for everyone! This weekend we open with the film Amadeus performed with live music. We celebrate the music of the 20s and Moulin Rouge next weekend. Mexican superstar Lila Downs will join the orchestra along with Enrico Lopez-Yanez, our new Principal Conductor of Dallas Symphony Presents (Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Chair). And then we welcome our Music Director Fabio Luisi who will present music from Broadway’s golden age – Gypsy, Oklahoma, Porgy and Bess. We will cap off the month with the sparking DSO Gala on Saturday, September 30,” said Kim Noltemy, the orchestra’s Ross Perot President and CEO.
Amadeus Live in Concert opens the season September 1-3, 2023.
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Amadeus will be projected on a large screen above the stage while Mozart’s works are performed live in-sync by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Winner of eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Milos Forman’s sumptuous Amadeus is an aural and visual treat for all the senses. Lawrence Loh conducts.
The orchestra will present Prohibition: The Music of Moulin Rouge, Boardwalk Empire, and More! September 8-10, 2023.
This concert is all about the decadence of the 1920s with its dark cabarets and speakeasies of New York, Paris, Berlin, London and Atlantic City. Prohibition takes you on a journey through the era, from Rudy Vallée to Josephine Baker, from Kurt Weill to King Oliver, featuring the top hits of the decade authentically arranged for orchestra by Grammy Award-winner Jeff Tyzik, accompanied by vintage imagery and video from the period.
The Scene
Lila Downs in concert with the DSO runs September 15-16, 2023
Grammy Award-winning artist, Lila Downs, one of the most influential artists in Latin America, joins the DSO for charismatic performances that showcase her unique voice. Her own compositions combine genres and rhythms as diverse as Mexican rancheras and corridos, boleros, jazz standards, hip-hop, cumbia and popular American music. Frequently, her lyrics focus on justice, immigration, and issues unique to women.
From September 22-24, Music Director Fabio Luisi makes his first appearance on the Pops Series presented by Capital One with The Great American Songbook.
The evening opens with classic Gershwin, followed by selections from the Great American Songbook. These influential American popular songs and jazz standards began in the early 20th century and continue to be written to this day. Closing the program are pieces by Jule Styne, William L. Dawson, the great arranger of spirituals, and the foot tapping Drums by James P. Johnson.
The fall marks the beginning of a very diverse season for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
“The entire season showcases many styles of music. Fabio Luisi and the orchestra will bring monumental works to life and present exciting world premieres. We’ll welcome some of the top soloists performing today along with three of our principal players in starring roles. Principal Pops conductor Jeff Tyzik will curate a toe-tapping season of performances of popular music and song. The holiday season at the Meyerson is filled with carols, Santa and celebration. Whether you enjoy Brahms and Beethoven or Queen and John Williams, we have something that will entertain and delight," Noltemy said.
In Fort Worth, Robert Spano returns to the podium for his second season as Music Director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra on September 8, 2023.
Spano served as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra beginning in 2019 and became Music Director Designate on April 1, 2021. He began an initial three-year term as Music Director in August 2022. He is the tenth Music Director in the orchestra’s history, which was founded in 1912.
As the first Symphonic Series performance of the 2023–2024 season, this concert features the return of the 2022 Cliburn Competition's Gold Medalist Yunchan Lim.
“It is with great excitement that I return to my hometown, Fort Worth, to open the FWSO 23-24 season. The return of the 2022 Cliburn competition winner, Yunchan Lim, will be a musical event not to be missed -- and the kind of program that reflects Fort Worth's international and innovative performing arts scene that is really a treasure for this community,” Spano said.
This program will include Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture and Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, and pianist Yunchan Lim will be the featured soloist on Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54. The Cliburn Competition's Gold Medalist: Schumann and Brahms season opening concert will take place Friday-Saturday, September 8–9 at 7:30 PM, and 2:00 PM on Sunday, September 10 at Bass Performance Hall.
In June 2022, Yunchan Limbecame the youngest person ever to win gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. His performance of Sir Stephen Hough’s Fanfare Toccata also secured him the Audience Award and Best Performance of a New Work.
“Yunchan is that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together,” said Jury Chair Marin Alsop.
Just 18 years old, Yunchan’s ascent to international stardom has been meteoric. Born in Siheung, Korea, he began piano lessons at age 7, and entered the Music Academy of the Seoul Arts Center the next year. He attended Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts at age 13, where he met his teacher and mentor, Minsoo Sohn. By 2019, at the age of 15, he was the youngest to win Korea’s IsangYun International Competition, also taking home two special prizes.
Yunchan has since performed across South Korea—including with the Korean Orchestra Festival, Korea Symphony, Suwon Philharmonic, and Busan Philharmonic Orchestras, among others—as well as in Madrid, at the invitation of the Korea Cultural Center in Spain. He also participated in the recording of “2020 Young Musicians of Korea,” organized by the Korean Broadcasting System and released that November.
“I made up my mind that I will live my life only for the sake of music, and I decided that I will give up everything for music… I wanted my music to become deeper, and if that desire reached the audience, I’m satisfied,” Yunchan said, speaking at a press conference after the Cliburn Competition.
He is currently in his second year at the Korea National University of Arts, where he continues to study with Sohn.
Learn more: Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
*Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra are part of North Texas Giving Day. North Texas Giving Day is September 21, with early giving beginning September 1.
