Martin Majkut, Music Director of The Rogue Valley Symphony announced the orchestra’s 2015-16 season on Sunday, February 22, 2015 at an invitation-only season preview for sponsors. The season will include five Masterworks concerts with gems such as Claude Debussy’s La Mer, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale”, and the Oregon premiere of a new work by Christopher Theofanidis, co-commissioned by the Rogue Valley Symphony. In addition, the Symphony will present two summer series concerts at EdenVale Winery in June and July 2015 and three performances of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah in December.
The 2015-16 season will kick off with the Symphony’s Summer Series at Eden Vale Winery, 2310 Voorhies Rd, Medford. This is the third year that the RVS has been presenting outdoor summer concerts at EdenVale. The first summer concert on June 19, 2015 at 8pm will showcase George Frideric Handel’s Water Music, Suites 1 and 2 and will feature local rising star oboist Gabe Young performing Benedetto Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in C Minor. Gaetano Donizetti’s Andante sostenuto and Tomaso Albinoni’s famous Adagio will also be on the program. The second summer concert will be held on July 24, 2015 at 8pm and will feature award-winning, Polish-born violinist Kinga Augustyn on Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, which will be played in its entirety. Ottorino Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3 and Giacomo Puccini’s I crisantemi will also be performed on this concert. EdenVale will open at 6:30 pm on concert evenings for patrons to enjoy food and wine before the performances. Summer Series concerts will offer all reserved seating for the first time this season.
For the 20015-16 Masterworks Series concerts, Majkut has created five diverse programs, each featuring internationally renowned soloists. The opening concerts on September 25, 26, and 27, 2015 will feature Ukranian-born pianist Stanislav Khristenko, first prize winner at the 2013 Cleveland International Piano Competition, on Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Mikhail Glinka’s Overture to “Russlan and Ludmilla”, and Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, “The Inextinguishable”. On October 16, 17, and 18, 2015, Israeli cellist Amit Peled will be the soloist for Antonin Dvořák’s cello concerto. Peled will perform on the legendary cellist Pablo Casals’ cello, recently given to him by Casals’ widow, Marta Casals Istomin. Majkut has also programmed Smetana’s Overture to “The Bartered Bride” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastorale”. The next Masterworks concert set is on the weekend of January 15, 16, and 17, 2016. The RVS is a co-commissioner of a new work by American composer Christopher Theofanidis, which will receive its Oregon premiere on this concert. Mexican-American Violinist Elena Urioste, recently selected as a BBC New Generation Artist and featured on the cover of Symphony magazine, will join the RVS for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto; the concert will conclude with Mozart’s Symphony No. 28, “Prague”. On February 26, 27, and 28, 2016 Croatian prodigy guitarist Ana Vidovic will make a return to the Rogue Valley Symphony for one of the world’s best known guitar concertos: Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. This concert features three other pieces all with the same fiery flair: Manuel de Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat Suites. No. 1 and 2, Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 3 and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol. The final concert of the 2015-16 season on April 22, 23, and 24, 2016 will bring back pianist Alexander Schimpf, first prize winner of the 2011 Cleveland International Piano Competition, for Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.2. Majkut also programmed Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides and Claude Debussy’s La Mer to close the season with a splash.
The Rogue Valley Symphony will again be presenting Handel’s epic masterpiece, Messiah, for the holidays. Spectacular guest soloists will join the RVS and the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers for these performances on Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 7:30pm in Grants Pass at the Grants Pass Performing Arts Center; on Friday, December 4, 2015 at 7:30pm in Ashland at the SOU Music Recital Hall; and on Saturday, December 5, 2015 at 7:30pm in Medford at the Craterian Theater at the Collier Center for Performing Arts. The Messiah performances move to these larger venues this season due to high ticket demand this past December.
This season will be the 6th for Conductor and Music Director Martin Majkut. The Rogue Valley Symphony performs each of its Masterworks concerts in three venues to take the music to audiences throughout the Rogue Valley. Friday evening concerts are held at the Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall at 7:30pm. Saturday evening concerts are held at 7:30 pm at the Craterian Theater at the Collier Center for the Performing Arts in Medford. Sunday afternoon matinees are held in Grants Pass at the Grants Pass Performing Arts Center at 3pm.
Martin Majkut has been the Music Director and Conductor of the Rogue Valley Symphony for 5 years. During these years, the RVS has seen remarkable growth in its artistry and 28% growth in its audiences; Ashland performances regularly sell out, and Medford performances are routinely 90% sold. The orchestra has grown from a core of 66 musicians to around 80. In the five years of Majkut’s tenure the orchestra’s annual budget has increased by 63%. The season now extends into the summer with outdoor concerts at EdenVale Winery. The RVS, in partnership with Paul French and the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers, has established a new holiday tradition of performances of Handel’s Messiah. Its education programs also now include “Classical Coaches,” which sends orchestra musicians into local middle and high schools to work with student musicians during their school day. The Symphony’s newest education program is Carnegie Hall’s Link Up program, which puts weekly music lessons in the school day for the Phoenix/Talent School District. These Link Up students also perform a concert with the RVS at the end of the school year.
Majkut takes his infectious love of orchestral music and translates it into a commitment to our local communities. He teaches music courses at Southern Oregon University as well as being a regular lecturer with the OLLI program. He has been involved with both Rogue Opera and Brava! Opera. This past season Majkut conducted the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s production of Into the Woods and traveled to continue conducting the same production at its performances in Los Angeles. He also has conducted the Tacoma Opera and regularly returns to conduct concerts in his native Bratislava, Slovakia.
Elena Urioste photo credit to Alessandra Tinozzi.
Photo Credit for Majkut’s photo goes to Christopher Briscoe Photography.