MODESTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Contact:
Caroline Nickel
cnickel@modestosymphony.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 

FOR COMPLETE ARTIST BIOS AND HIGH-RES PHOTOS, PLEASE CLICK HERE

Modesto Symphony Orchestra 93^rd Season Opens With New Music Director Nicholas Hersh

MSO’s Classic Series Programming Announced 

• The MSO’s 93^rd season will open with a concert celebrating new Music Director Nicholas Hersh leading the MSO in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Copland’s Symphony No. 3
• Hersh will return in February for a concert featuring William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, Lili Boulanger’s D’un Matin de Printemps (Of a Spring Morning), and Gershwin’s An American in Paris
• March will bring a new format to the MSO with a concert curated by the orchestra. The program will feature music that was hand-selected by the orchestra to share with the community. The evening will end with an after-party where the audience can meet the orchestra!
• Hersh and the MSO will be joined by violinist Tai Murray in April for Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. The program will also feature pieces by Piazzolla, Farrenc, and Bach.
• The Classics Series will end with Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 9 which will feature the MSO Chorus and soloists.

MODESTO, CA – The Modesto Symphony Orchestra (MSO) will open its 93^rd season with new Music Director Nicholas Hersh with Tchaikovsky & Copland on Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14, 2023. The program will start with Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro then will feature pianist Alessio Bax on Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The evening will conclude with Copland’s Symphony No. 3 which features the well-known theme from Fanfare for the Common Man. As part of the opening weekend festivities, the MSO will have an after-party in the lobby to celebrate the new season and their new Music Director Nicholas Hersh.

“We are so excited to open our Classics Series with our new Music Director Nicholas Hersh,” said Caroline Nickel, President and CEO of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra Association. “Nick immediately started to work completing the programming for our season and we are so excited to share it with the community. Everyone at the MSO is thrilled to have Nick’s artistic leadership and we can’t wait to see where we’ll go from here.”

MODESTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2023-24 CLASSICS SERIES

Five concerts performed on both Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM in the Mary Stuart Rogers Theater at Gallo Center for the Arts.

Tchaikovsky & Copland

October 13 & 14, 2023 at 7:30pm

Nicholas Hersh, conductor

Alessio Bax, piano

 

PROGRAM

Amadeus Mozart: Overture to The Marriage of Figaro

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1

Aaron Copland: Symphony No. 3

 

Gershwin’s An American in Paris

February 9 & 10, 2024 at 7:30pm

Nicholas Hersh, conductor

 

PROGRAM

William Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony

Lili Boulanger: D’un Matin de Printemps (Of a Spring Morning)

George Gershwin: An American in Paris

 

Symphonic Soundtrack

March 15 & 16, 2024 at 7:30pm

Nicholas Hersh, conductor

 

Symphonic Soundtrack is a brand-new concert experience which will feature a special program curated by your MSO musicians and conclude with an afterparty that everyone can enjoy!

 

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto

April 12 & 13, 2024 at 7:30pm

Nicholas Hersh, conductor

Tai Murray, violin

 

PROGRAM

Astor Piazzolla: Tangazo

Louise Farrenc: Symphony No. 3 in G minor

Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Hersh: “Little Fugue” in G minor

Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor

 

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9

May 10 & 11, 2024 at 7:30pm

Nicholas Hersh, conductor

 

Featuring the MSO Chorus

Daniel R. Afonso Jr., chorus director

 

TICKETS: 
Single Tickets: $20 / 36 / 52 / 72 / 94

$12 student tickets available at the Gallo Center Ticket Office. Students can purchase two $12 tickets with their student ID.

Subscription packages are available now online, by phone, and at the Gallo Center Ticket Office. Visit ModestoSymphony.org for full details.

Group Prices available: Groups of 10 receive a 15% discount on tickets. Call (209) 338-5064 for more information.

Gallo Center Ticket Office
Hours: Monday through Friday 10:00am to 6:00pm and Saturdays 12:00pm to 6:00pm. 
Phone: 209-338-2100

TCHAIKOVSKY & COPLAND ARTIST BIOS

American conductor Nicholas Hersh has earned critical acclaim for his innovative programming and natural ability to connect with musicians and audiences alike.

In the 2023-24 season, Hersh returns to the National, Houston, Baltimore, Colorado, and New Jersey Symphonies, while making debuts with the Springfield Symphony and Wintergreen Festival. Recent include engagements with the Detroit, Grand Rapids, New World, North Carolina, Phoenix, Portland (ME), Richmond, Tucson, Utah, and Winston-Salem symphony orchestras, Louisiana and Rochester Philharmonics, and the Florida and Sarasota Orchestras.

Over a remarkable tenure as Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Hersh created the BSO Pulse series, through which he brought together indie bands and orchestral musicians in unique collaborations; he led the BSO in several subscription weeks, and concerts in and around Baltimore; and he directed the BSO’s educational and family programming, including the celebrated Academy for adult amateur musicians. Hersh also maintains a close relationship with the National Symphony Orchestra, leading concerts throughout Washington, D.C. He stepped in to replace an indisposed Yan Pascal Tortelier, on subscription, to great acclaim.

Hersh is frequently in demand as an arranger and orchestrator, with commissions from orchestras around the globe for adaptations of everything from classical solo and chamber music to popular songs. His orchestration of Beethoven’s Cello Sonata Op. 69 was premiered by the Philharmonie Zuidnederland in January 2022, while his symphonic arrangement of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody continues to see worldwide success as a viral YouTube hit. He also serves as arranger and editor for the James P. Johnson Orchestra Edition.

Hersh grew up in Evanston, Illinois and started his musical training as a cellist. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Stanford University and a Master’s Degree in Conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Hersh is also a two-time recipient of the Solti Foundation Career Assistance Award. Nicholas lives in Philadelphia with his wife Caitlin and their two cats, and in his free time enjoys baking (and eating) sourdough bread.

 

Alessio Bax

Combining exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions, and is now a familiar face on five continents, not only as a recitalist and chamber musician, but also as a concerto soloist who has appeared with more than 150 orchestras, including the London, Royal, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the New York, Boston, Dallas, Cincinnati, Seattle, Sydney, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and the NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Fabio Luisi, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden.

Bax constantly explores many facets of his career. He released his eleventh Signum Classics album, Italian Inspirations, whose program was also the vehicle for his solo recital debut at New York’s 92nd Street Y as well as on tour. He recently debuted with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, playing Schumann Concerto and the Seattle Symphony with Saint-Saëns’ Second Piano Concerto and embarked on a trio tour of Spain with violinist Joshua Bell and cellist Steven Isserlis. Bax and his regular piano duo partner, Lucille Chung, gave recitals at New York’s Lincoln Center and were featured with the St. Louis Symphony and Stéphane Denève. He has also toured extensively with Joshua Bell and presented the complete works of Beethoven for cello and piano with cellist Paul Watkins in New York City.

Bax revisited Mozart’s K. 491 and K. 595 concertos, as heard on Alessio Bax Plays Mozart, for his recent debuts with the Boston and Melbourne Symphonies, both with Sir Andrew Davis, and with the Sydney Symphony, which he led himself from the keyboard. In addition, Bax made his solo recital debut at London’s Wigmore Hall, and give concerts at L.A.’s Disney Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. As a renowned chamber musician, he recently collaborated with Joshua Bell, Ian Bostridge, Lucille Chung, Steven Isserlis, Daishin Kashimoto, Sergei Nakariakov, Emmanuel Pahud, Lawrence Power, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Paul Watkins and Tabea Zimmermann. Since 2017 he has been the Artistic Director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, a Summer Music Festival in the Val d’Orcia region of Tuscany. He appears regularly in festivals such as Seattle, Bravo Vail, Salon-de-Provence, Le Pont in Japan, Great Lakes, Verbier, Ravinia and Music@Menlo. In 2009, he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and four years later he received both the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award and the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.

Bax’s celebrated Signum Classics discography includes Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” and “Moonlight” Sonatas (a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”); Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto; Bax & Chung, a duo disc with Lucille Chung; Alessio Bax plays Mozart, recorded with London’s Southbank Sinfonia; Alessio Bax: Scriabin & Mussorgsky (named “Recording of the Month … and quite possibly … of the year” by MusicWeb International); Alessio Bax plays Brahms (a Gramophone “Critics’ Choice”); Bach Transcribed; and Rachmaninov: Preludes & Melodies (an American Record Guide “Critics’ Choice 2011”). Recorded for Warner Classics, his Baroque Reflections album was also a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice.” He performed Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata for Daniel Barenboim in the PBS-TV documentary Barenboim on Beethoven: Masterclass, available on DVD from EMI.

At the record age of 14, Bax graduated with top honors from the conservatory of Bari, his hometown in Italy, and after further studies in Europe, he moved to the United States in 1994. A Steinway artist, he lives in New York City with pianist Lucille Chung and their daughter, Mila. He was invited to join the piano faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory in the fall of 2019.

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The Modesto Symphony Orchestra is a Resident Company of The Gallo Center for the Arts

The DoubleTree Hotel is the official hotel of the MSO