Flute Watch

Last Thursday night, Dallas County filed a public health emergency declaration as well as a community gathering order. The order prohibits gatherings of over 500 people, and subsequently, will inhibit Dallas Symphony Concerts to continue for the time being. In response, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra has canceled all concerts from Friday, March 13 through Sunday, March 22 and rescheduled Chris Botti's concerts for a future date and time. Any current ticketholder will still be able to enjoy the concerts but on a rescheduled day. In a Facebook post, the Dallas Symphony wrote, "We encourage everyone in our music community and beyond to follow all health recommendations of the CDC, WHO and the City of Dallas concerning COVID-19, and to take great care of themselves to stay healthy and avoid contact with the virus." Photo by form PxHere

On January 12th, I had an out of body experience. I was not the only one. Thousands of audience members sat stupefied that afternoon as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performed their Scheherazade program. The program lasted about two hours total, consisting of Aaron Copland's Quiet City , Julia Wolfe's Dallas premiere Fountain of Youth , Samuel Barber's Andromache's Farewell, and, of course, Rimsky-Korsakov's classical masterpiece  Scheherazade . Quiet City  was a calming, complete portrait, featuring Dallas Symphony players on the trumpet and English horn. Julia Wolfe's Fountain of Youth  was a different story altogether. Eerily cheerful with a subtle diabolic aftertaste, the piece sounded as if it were extracted straight from Bobby Krlic's soundtracks from the horror movie Hereditary. In Samuel Barber's Andromache's Farewell , the featured soprano soloist Lise Lindstrom's ear-splitting range sent chills down the audience's spines....

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is the largest performing arts organization in the Southwest United States. Known as one of the nation's highest-paid orchestras, the symphony is also home to the amazing flutists David Buck, Deborah Baron, and Kara Kirkendoll Welch. Naturally, tickets to see this orchestra can be expensive, with prices soaring up to $155 per person. However, ticket prices are no longer a problem, thanks to the work of the city's partnerships and philanthropists. Here are five ways to get tickets to your next Dallas Symphony concert for free. 1. City of Dallas Culture Pass For:  Dallas library cardholders Frequency :  All concerts The City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture and the Dallas Public Library partnered up on November 22nd to create the Culture Pass, which allows all Dallas library cardholders to check out a ticket to local arts organizations.  In addition to the Dallas Symphony, this culture pass also gives complimentary a...

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra performs at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center On November 22, 2019, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra showcased a program featuring worldwide renowned virtuoso Maxim Vengerov. This program, the second performance of its kind that weekend, was a demanding collection of the Bruch Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in G minor, Ravel's Tzigane for Violin and Orchestra, and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 111. Additionally, the symphony brought in award-winning conductor Xian Zhang to communicate between the orchestra and soloist Vengerov. Maxim Vengerov is a Grammy award-winning artist, known by many as one of the world's finest musicians. He did not fail to disappoint that night. His own rendition of the Bruch Violin Concerto was effortlessly splendid, best described as a chocolatey mix of effervescence. The first movement was rich and superfluous. Throughout the second movement, the master violinist extended an ...

On Saturday, November 9th, Gemma New took to the Dallas Symphony podium to direct a program of Impressionistic masterpieces, from Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun to Debussy's La Mer. Two other pieces were performed that night, including a world premiere of Steven Mackey's Timpani Concerto and the Dallas premiere of Salina Fisher's Rainphrase. Overall, the Dallas Symphony was excellent at portraying Debussy's works. The strings displayed immense control of phrases and dynamics, recreating the tipsy quality of Impressionistic music. Their ebb and flow, especially during Debussy's La Mer, was wonderfully mimicked to the rise and fall of the tides, splashing a vivid image of waves for the audience's imagination. Steven Mackey's Timpani Concerto was odd, to say the least. While percussion soloist Brian Jones held clear mastery of his instrument, the overall piece did not hold up its promotion. Mackey's attempt to push beyond the envelo...