The Flint Symphony regularly performs music that challenges and inspires musicians and audience members alike. The Flint Journal has called Maestro Diemecke, "nearly flawless," and has referred to orchestra performances as "outstanding," "sparkling," and "brilliant."
FSO 2009-2010 Season - It's in the Stars
The 2009-2010 season is out of this world! Maestro Diemecke and the FSO lead us on an exploration of vastly different worlds. Together, we'll experience the drama of star-crossed lovers in Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, then move to a story of monumental proportions: Wagner’s The Ring where the epic struggles of gods, heroes and mythical creatures come alive in the music. We’ll travel to the outer reaches of our solar system with Holst’s The Planets and wind up the season with a work depicting the entire universe—Haydn’s The Creation. Download a copy of the 2009-2010 Season brochure here.
The season opens with a selection based on Shakespeare’s story of star-crossed lovers. Its themes provide dramatic contrasts: fierce and combative, depicting the quarreling Capulets and Montagues, then intensely moving with the beautiful theme of the lovers themselves. Next, Mexican native Saul Medina, discovered in Columbia by Maestro Diemecke, will perform Kopetzki’s Marimba Concerto—a formidable piece for the soloist. The concert ends with one of the most popular and well-known pieces of all time: ta-ta-ta-TUM. Need we say more?
The Whiting Ticket Center at 888.8CENTER or 810.237.7333 Mon. - Sat., noon to 6:00 pm
Groups, call the FIM Audience Services Ticket Office at 810.237.3122 or 800.395.4849 ext. 2.
Prices
From $750 to $58
The Whiting
The Whiting and The Ticket Center box office are located between Mott Community College and University of Michigan-Flint on the beautiful Flint Cultural Center campus at 1241 E. Kearsley St. in Flint, MI.
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2 Wagner arr. Lorin Maazel, The Ring Without Words
A landmark piano composition marks the start of the FSO’s second concert. Immediately popular, it has become one of Rachmaninoff’s—and classical music’s—most popular concerti of all time. The stirring and majestic themes wind themselves throughout the work, coming back at the end in an ecstatic close. The second half of the concert features an incredible feat of symphonic synthesis: Lorin Maazel’s distillation of Richard Wagner’s epic 17-hour, four-opera marathon cycle of The Ring of the Nibelung into just 50 minutes. In spite of its abbreviated form, this towering piece still provides a dramatic depiction of the struggles of Norse gods, heroes and mythical creatures.
The Whiting Ticket Center at 888.8CENTER or 810.237.7333 Mon. - Sat., noon to 6:00 pm
Groups, call the FIM Audience Services Ticket Office at 810.237.3122 or 800.395.4849 ext. 2.
Prices
• From $7.50 to $58
The Whiting
The Whiting and The Ticket Center box office are located between Mott Community College and University of Michigan-Flint on the beautiful Flint Cultural Center campus at 1241 E. Kearsley St. in Flint, MI. MAP & DIRECTIONS
Reinecke, Concerto in D Major for Flute & Orchestra Mahler, Symphony No. 7
Delightful, lyrical and lovely--the opening concerto unfolds in three beautifully contrasting movements providing a virtuoso opportunity for the 2009 Byrd Competition winner joining us this evening. They were penned by a most versatile Danish musician who worked as a composer, conductor, pianist and influential teacher and who befriended other great musicians of his time like Schumann and Mendelssohn. Following intermission, Mahler's brave score brings a sense of fearless adventure to his work. Sometimes called Song of the Night, this piece features three central "night movements" reminiscent of the evening sounds the composer so loved: muted cowbells, gentle bird calls and the soft flutterings of nature. The piece ends in the brilliance of day, announced by the timpani and horns.
The Whiting Ticket Center at 888.8CENTER or 810.237.7333 Mon. - Sat., noon to 6:00 pm
Groups, call the FIM Audience Services Ticket Office at 810.237.3122 or 800.395.4849 ext. 2.
Prices
From $750 to $58
The Whiting
The Whiting and The Ticket Center box office are located between Mott Community College and University of Michigan-Flint on the beautiful Flint Cultural Center campus at 1241 E. Kearsley St. in Flint, MI.
Villa-Lobos, Little Train of the Caipira from Bachianas brasileiras No. 2 Bizet, Votre toast from Carmen Mozart, Madamina! Il catalogo è questo from Don Giovanni Handel, Thus Saith the Lord and But Who May Abide from Messiah Galindo, Sones de mariachi Vaughan Williams, Two songs from Five Mystical Songs:No. 3 Love bade me welcome, No. 4 The Call Kern, Ol’ Man River from Showboat Elgar, Enigma Variations, Op. 36
An amusing little gem starts the evening. Inspired by a train ride with berry-picking farm laborers in Sao Paulo, it fuses the style of Bach to the folk music of Brazil. Next, Flint native Isaac Grier dazzles his home-town audience with a great selection of baritone favorites, starting with an impassioned aria from Bizet’s famous opera, Carmen, followed up with pieces ranging from oratorio to a classic showtune. In between, the orchestra takes us south of the border with popular Mexican mariachi tunes. The closing selection came to the composer after a long day of teaching violin. He entertained his wife that evening on the piano with what was to become his first composition for large orchestra, altering the theme to reflect characteristics of certain friends.
Enrique Diemecke, conductor Isaac Grier, baritone
This concert is part of the Black Classical Music Family Festival
The Whiting Ticket Center at 888.8CENTER or 810.237.7333 Mon. - Sat., noon to 6:00 pm
Groups, call the FIM Audience Services Ticket Office at 810.237.3122 or 800.395.4849 ext. 2.
Prices
From $750 to $58
The Whiting
The Whiting and The Ticket Center box office are located between Mott Community College and University of Michigan-Flint on the beautiful Flint Cultural Center campus at 1241 E. Kearsley St. in Flint, MI.
Barber, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra Holst, The Planets
The orchestra brings us a masterpiece by a composer of immense genius and talent. The work, for which Barber received a second Pulitzer Prize, incorporates his natural affinity for flowing melody, capped by a cliffhanger ending. This season’s theme, It’s in the Stars, has its synthesis in the evening’s closing work. With an acute interest in horoscopes and astrology, Holst created a piece of amazing balance—at once melodic and precise, yet exploring the mystical and unexplainable.
Enrique Diemecke, conductor Ian Parker, piano Women of the Flint Festival Chorus Bradley Bloom, director
The Whiting Ticket Center at 888.8CENTER or 810.237.7333 Mon. - Sat., noon to 6:00 pm
Groups, call the FIM Audience Services Ticket Office at 810.237.3122 or 800.395.4849 ext. 2.
Prices
From $750 to $58
The Whiting
The Whiting and The Ticket Center box office are located between Mott Community College and University of Michigan-Flint on the beautiful Flint Cultural Center campus at 1241 E. Kearsley St. in Flint, MI.
The FSO has chosen for its season ending a masterpiece of optimism and harmony. Lovingly written, it gives the listener a glimpse at the immense power of the moment when the universe began, bringing life to the Biblical passage "and there was light".
Enrique Diemecke, conductor Gwynne Geyer, soprano Jonathan Boyd, tenor John Cheek, bass-baritone Flint Festival Chorus, Bradley Bloom, director First Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir, Mark Riddles, director
The Whiting Ticket Center at 888.8CENTER or 810.237.7333
Mon. - Sat., noon to 6:00 pm
Groups, call the FIM Audience Services Ticket Office at 810.237.3122 or 800.395.4849 ext. 2.
Prices
From $750 to $58
The Whiting
The Whiting and The Ticket Center box office are located between Mott Community College and University of Michigan-Flint on the beautiful Flint Cultural Center campus at 1241 E. Kearsley St. in Flint, MI.
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Saul Medina Biography
A Review of the October 10, 2009 FSO Concert
