I talked to the San Antonio Symphony's Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing today and asked what many in the arts community are wondering: who will be the focus of next year’s music festival?
“Richard Strauss,” revealed Lang-Lessing.
“For me it was just a natural way to celebrate the 75th anniversary with a Strauss festival," he said.
It's the San Antonio Symphony’s 75th year of playing and to get that anniversary started right, he had another big announcement.
“We open with Renee Fleming, so I’m very thrilled that this works out,” Lang-Lessing said.
Fleming is probably the top opera singer in the world right now, and currently one of the biggest selling performers worldwide. She sang the national anthem live in front of a 111 million Super Bowl viewers. And she’s coming to open the Tobin Center with the symphony.
“I think it’s really thrilling," Lang-Lessing said. "And it’s a wonderful way of opening the Tobin Center for the symphony season. It’s really great.”
The Tobin also now has a firm date for its gala event, September 20. But Lang-Lessing does have a warning to concert-goers: There may not be enough seats for last-minute ticket buyers.
“Taking a subscription in the Tobin Center is probably a very good way of securing that you actually get a seat," he said.
It's worth noting that the Tobin has 700 fewer seats than the Majestic. The symphony has a plan to deal with that, as I’ll detail in a subsequent report.
- For more on the symphony visit: www.sasymphony.org
