SA Phil Announces Season
By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor
Just a couple of weeks after they announced the creation of the new entity called the San Antonio Philharmonic, the musicians of the now defunct San Antonio Symphony are ready to start the new season, “Forward Together,” in their new home, the First Baptist Church of San Antonio, which is a stone throw away from their old home at the Tobin Center.
It’s a remarkably well put-together season, featuring outstanding conductors and soloists, as well as programs that include different genres, different historical periods and some surprises along the way.
How hard was it to get all these classical music stars to agree to play in San Antonio? We asked SA Phil board president, Brian Petkovich.
“The support for our new organization, around the country and around the world, has been phenomenal,” said Petkovich who is also a musician. “Many of those people contacted us and wanted to help. It’s very gratifying to have that kind of support. Some have been involved with us for a long time and they have been very responsive to us.”
Among the latter are two former San Antonio Symphony music directors, Sebastian Lang-Lessing and Christopher Wilkins, as well as Ken David Masur, who was resident conductor of SAS from 2007 to 2011 and later became the music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Some soloists are also old friends, such as bass-baritone Timothy Jones and violin virtuoso, Nancy Zhou who attended the Keystone School here in San Antonio, and was a member of YOSA (Youth Orchestras of San Antonio)
“I couldn’t be happier with what we have lined-up to present to the audience,” said Petkovich.
Altogether, SA Phil will present ten Classic and three POPS concerts during the 2022-23 season. Petkovich credits his colleague and UTSA faculty member, Stephanie Westney, for leading the effort of lining up conductors, soloists and programs for the season. “She worked really hard and listened to all our ideas and did a fantastic job,” he noted. “She was the focal point for a lot of information.”
Not all the plans are finalized for the entire season but the fall concerts are ready to go. The opening pair of concerts, scheduled for Sept. 16 &17 will start with a new, original composition, “Emergent,” by San Antonio composer Ethan Wickman, which was commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University. Petkovich credited Westney for including the premiere of this work in the first pair of concerts.
Unfortunately, there are no plans at present for the Philharmonic to play for either Ballet San Antonio’s or Opera San Antonio’s productions. But Petkovich indicated that some conversations between the Tobin and SA Phil have taken place.
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Here’s the full fall season:
Classic 1 – Sept. 16 & 17
Conductor: Ken-David Masur
Program: “Emergent” by Ethan Wickman; Brahms’s “St. Anthony Variations” and Selections from Prokofiev’s ballet “Romeo and Juliet.”
Classic 2 – Oct. 7 & 8
Conductor: Garrett Keast; Soloist: guest artist Nancy Zhou;
Program: Florence Price: “Dances in the Canebrakes”; German composer Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8
Classic 3 – Oct. 28 & 29
Conductor: Sebastian Lang-Lessing
Program: Wagner: Selections from “Tristan and Isolde”; and Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5
Classic 4 – Nov. 18 & 19
Conductor: Christopher Wilkins
Program: Vaughn-Williams’ “Sinfonia Antartica,” and the orchestral suite “The Planets” by English composer Gustav Holst. The San Antonio Mastersingers will be part of this concert.
The three Pops concerts are scheduled for Jan. 27 & 28; Feb. 24 & 25, and April 21 & 22.
All concerts will take place at the First Baptist Church of San Antonio (515 McCullough, downtown.) Website: www.saphil.org