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Reading Symphony Orchestra Announces 2018-19 Season at Santander Performing Arts Center

Feb 21, 2018 • by Reading Symphony Orchestra
Reading Symphony Orchestra

READING, PA  The Reading Symphony Orchestra (RSO) today announces its 2018-2019 season with eight performances at the Santander Performing Arts Center.

The RSO opens its 2018-19 season on Saturday, September 22, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. with Scheherazade, featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s iconic piece about one of the world’s greatest storytellers, paired with Mussorgsky’s spell-binding Night on Bald Mountain and Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto.

On Saturday, October 20, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. the Reading Symphony Orchestra presents Scandinavian Dreams where the RSO Quartet is featured in a new arrangement of Joel Puckett’s Short Stories. Also on the program is Sibelius’ Second Symphony.

Beloved orchestral works from the classical canon are spotlighted in Orchestral Masterpieces on Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. Works range from Debussy’s Clair de Lune and Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries to Bernstein’s Overture to Candide and Strauss’ The Blue Danube, in addition to other favorites.

The Reading Symphony Orchestra rings in the New Year with The Music of James Taylor & Carole King on Monday, December 31, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. featuring hits including “How Sweet It Is,” “Carolina in My Mind,” “I Feel the Earth Move,” and more, performed by Kirsti Manna and Jonathan Birchfield.

On Saturday, January 26, 2019 at 7:30 p.m., pianist Julio Elizalde is featured together with the RSO in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Rounding out the program is Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s pattern-based Frates, and Schumann’s exuberant Third Symphony.

Aaron Copland’s majestic Lincoln Portrait is experienced with an innovative presentation using photochoregraphy by Westwater Arts on Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. The program also includes interludes by Philip Glass, George Butterworth’s The Banks of Green Willow, and Vaughan Williams’ tuneful Symphony No. 5.

The magic of cirque comes to the Santander Performing Arts Center with aerial flyers, acrobats, contortionists, jugglers, dancers, and more, choreographed to classical and contemporary favorites with Cirque de la Symphonie on Saturday, April 13, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

To close the season, the RSO collaborates with Berks Opera Company, the Reading Choral Society and Berks Youth Chorus on Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. for Puccini’s Tosca, a thrilling tale of love and despair.

“Spectacular, exciting and uplifting are three of the words that come to me when I look at the Reading Symphony Orchestra’s new season,” said Music Director Andrew Constantine. “Where else can you experience Tosca, Scheherazade, an evening of ‘Cirque’ or the music of Carole King all under one roof and played with such passion and commitment? Only at the Reading Symphony Orchestra!”

Ticket Information

Subscriptions for the 2018-2019 season are currently on-sale and can be purchased by calling 610-373-7557 or emailing [email protected]. Single tickets go on-sale on July 1.

About the Reading Symphony Orchestra

Since 1913, the Reading Symphony Orchestra has been providing uninterrupted access to exceptional classical music to the citizens of Berks County and beyond. Throughout the past 105 years as one of the nation’s continuously operating symphonies, the RSO has performed masterworks from Bach to Beethoven, and many more, and has been joined by illustrious guest soloists including pianists Yuja Wang and Fabio Bidini, violinist Midori, and guitarist Jason Vieaux.

The RSO has blossomed under the artistic leadership of Maestros Harry Fahrbach, Walter Pfeiffer, Hans Kindler, Alexander Hilsberg, Louis Vyner, Sidney Rothstein, and its current music director Andrew Constantine. The orchestra currently performs six concerts annually on its Classics series with additional Pops performances, and collaborations with other community performing arts organizations.

The RSO’s numerous educational and outreach programs continue to benefit the community. Among others, the Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra and Junior Strings program gives talented area music students the opportunity to perform advanced orchestral repertoire with like-minded peers under the guidance of high-caliber artistic staff; the Orchestra Zone program provides free private instrumental music lessons to underserved students in the Reading School District; and the Masterclass series gives community members an opportunity to learn from visiting soloists.

For more information, please visit www.readingsymphony.org or call 610-373-7557.

About Andrew Constantine

Andrew Constantine was appointed Music Director of the Reading Symphony Orchestra in April 2007 following a two year search involving nearly three hundred conductors and was named Music Director of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic in in July 2009. Previously, Constantine served as Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for three years following an appointment by Yuri Temirkanov in 2004. Constantine works regularly with nearly all of the top British orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra as well as having strong relationships with a number of European and Scandinavian orchestras including the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. In the United States, Constantine has developed a reputation for imaginative and compelling programming as well as a profound commitment to music education. In 2003, he was awarded the degree of Honorary Doctor of Music by the University of Leicester for his “contribution to music” and was also awarded a highly prestigious British NESTA Fellowship.

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