The San Antonio Symphony greets the New Year with the Dvořák Festival, which features a wide range of performances and guest artists. It all starts on Friday, January 10 and runs through February 9.
"The beauty of this festival, as with all the other festivals, is that 50 percent of the repertoire is very well known and is standard, and everybody knows and loves these pieces, like the 8th and 9th symphony and the cello concertos," said symphony Muisic Director Sebastien Lang-Lessing. "And then there are pieces that are very rarely performed, like the piano concerto for example, or symphonies 5 and 6, and even 7 is rarely performed."
"One of the most popular symphonies written, especially in the United States, is "New World Symphony." We’re going to also introduce opera," Lang-Lessing said. "This time we play one of his last pieces, which is "Rusalka," one of his most important operas."
"Rusalka" comes from Czech mythology. Rusalka is a water sprite, and she’s the subject of the opera. Lang-Lessing said there’s a rebirth of interest in "Rusalka."
“I think the Met [Opera] is going into another production of "Rusalka," so it’s becoming more and more popular, so we’re introducing that during the festival as well," Lang-Lessing said.
The January 10 and 11 concert is the cello concerto featuring Jian Wang. I’ll keep you updated on the concert layout before each Dvořák Festival event happens.
- Learn more at: www.sasymphony.org
