Hartford Symphony announces Gershwin, Rachmaninoff and breakdancing for 2022-23 Masterwork season

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s just-announced 2022-2023 Masterworks Series is anchored by heavy hitters such as Gershwin, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and even Scott Joplin.

But the composers who aren’t household names are just as intriguing, including Felix Mendelssohn’s equally talented older sister Fanny, 1930s jazz-rooted Gershwin collaborator Ferde Grofe, mid-20th century Black female composer Florence Price, 18th century Creole composer Joseph Bologne and contemporary talents such as Anna Clyne and Iain Bell.

The Masterworks concerts will continue to have three performances each: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. in the Belding Theater at The Bushnell.

Last year it was announced that HSO Music Director Carolyn Kuan had extended her contract with the symphony through the end of the 2023-24 season.

“Throughout the pandemic, we were all yearning for a sense of freedom. This season is an exploration of what it means to be… free, intrigued, joyful, adventurous, and how that freedom inspires us,” Kuan said in the statement announcing the season.

The symphony’s 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons were heavily compromised by the COVID pandemic, with cancellations, postponements and reschedulings. The 2021-22 season, which ended June 12 with a concert of Beethoven and Philip Glass and featured several programs that were originally planned for earlier seasons. The 2022-23 season has new ideas and surprises.

[ Philip Glass meets Beethoven at final Hartford Symphony Masterworks concert of season ]

• Oct. 7 to 9: The season opens with “American Adventures.” The symphony has often presented America-themed nights, which have sometimes involved a ceremony for new U.S. citizens. A similarly themed program last season featured works by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland. This year it’s Copland again: the composer’s famous “Appalachian Spring,” which includes the Shaker hymn melody “Simple Gift”; plus the ever-popular George Gershwin (”An American in Paris,” stressing the American part); the majestic “Grand Canyon Suite” by Ferde Grofé, who knew and worked with Gershwin); and contemporary composer Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’Clock Shout,” inspired by frontline workers during the COVID pandemic. Kuan will conduct.
• Nov. 4 to 6: This night brings together two French Impressionist composers: Claude Debussy, with two pieces, “Clair de lune” and “Nocturnes”; and Maurice Ravel’s ”Concerto for the Left Hand”. Kuan conducts, and pianist Alessio Bax will play the left-handed concerto. Also on the bill is Mason Bates’ “Liquid Interface,” which sounds like it might be a corporate sponsor rather than a classical composition, but is in fact a four-movement electronica-infused symphony that the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. premiered in 2007.
• Dec. 2 to 4: A Masterworks concert anchored by Beethoven is no surprise — last season there were two. But “Breaking Beethoven” offers a twist. The hip-hop dance troupe BRKFST from Minnesota will perform its original choreography to Beethoven’s “Grosse Fuge Op. 133″ and also dance to “Dancers, Dreamers, and Presidents” by the contemporary composer DBR (aka Daniel Bernard Roumain). Then there’s more Beethoven: his Symphony No. 2 in D Major. Kuan conducts.
• Feb. 10 to 12: Having just performed pioneering Black American female composer Florence Price’s “Piano Concerto in One Movement” for its “From the New World” concert in May, and Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concert No. 3″ in April, the HSO returns to both composers for a “Romantic Rachmaninoff & Price” concert. This time the orchestra will play Price’s “Symphony No. 1 in E Minor” and Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2,” plus Jessie Montgomery’s string orchestra piece “Starburst.” Kuan conducts, with pianist Terrence Wilson performing the Rachmaninoff.
• March 10 to 12: “Symphonie Fantastique” offers the Berlioz symphony of that name as well as orchestral arrangements of two Scott Joplin rags, “The Entertainer” and “Ragtime Dance,” and Anna Clyne’s cello concerto “Dance.” The guest cellist for the Clyne piece is Inbal Segev.
• March 31 to April 2: Mozart, who’s been underrepresented in recent HSO seasons, headlines “Mozart 40.″ The “40″ refers to the impetuous composer’s heady “Symphony No. 40” from 1788. Also heard that night are 18th century Creole composer Joseph Bologne’s “Symphony No. 2″ and, from the 19th century, Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Violin Concerto No. 3.” The violin soloist will be HSO concertmaster Leonid Sigal. Adam Boyles conducts.
• April 14 to 16: “Beethoven by the Rivers” offers the composer’s “Pastorale” symphony alongside works by Bedřich Smetana (”Vltava,” named for a river in the Czech Republic) and Xian Xinghai’s “Yellow River Piano Concerto,’ performed by guest pianist Jie Chen.
• May 12 to 14: “Mendelssohn Taking Flight,” May 12 to 14, features two composers by that name: Felix Mendelssohn (”Violin Concerto in E Minor”) and his sister Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (”Overture in C Major”), as well as two composers not named Mendelssohn, contemporary Peruvian composer Gabriela Lena Frank (”Raíces”) and Ottorino Respighi (”The Birds,” which attempts to translate bird songs into a five movement suite). Alexandra Arrieche conducts.
• June 9 to 11: The season ends with “Tchaikovsky & Pride.” The Tchaikovsky part is his “Pathetique” symphony. The “Pride” part is a suite drawn from Iain Bell’s opera “Stonewall,” written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall gay liberation protests. Kuan conducted the world premiere of the opera in 2019 for New York City Opera. The symphony will also premiere a work by the yet-to-be-named first artist-in-residence to be supported by the Joyce C. Willis Fund, dedicated to giving opportunities to Black artists at major Hartford arts institutions.

Current HSO subscribers can renew their subscriptions now. New subscriptions will be offered starting June 21. Single tickets for individual concerts will go on sale in August. More information can be found at hartfordsymphony.org.

Christopher Arnott can be reached at carnott@courant.com.

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