THE TITANS

For violinist Gil Shaham, the list of accolades is long: winner of multiple Grammy Awards, recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and Avery Fisher Prize, 2012 Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America—just to name a few. He performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras (Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, San Francisco Symphony) and has an impressive discography of recordings. In this final Masterworks concert of the season—his first performance with the CSO in several decades—he will shine alongside other giants in the orchestral world.

Inspired by Hollywood film music of the 1930s (or, perhaps, vice versa since the composer was a regular contributor to the genre), Korngold’s virtuosic Violin Concerto never fails to showcase the technical skills of its performers. Shaham as soloist on the Violin Concerto is guaranteed to be pure bliss.

*Robert Spano has fallen ill and will be unable to conduct this program. Stepping in for Spano, we are excited to announce:

The Venezuelan-born, Spanish conductor José Luis Gomez began his musical career as a violinist but was catapulted to international attention when he won First Prize at the International Sir Georg Solti Conductor’s Competition in Frankfurt in September 2010, securing a sensational and rare unanimous decision from the jury.

Gomez’s electrifying energy, talent and creativity earned him immediate acclaim from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra where he was appointed to the position of Assistant Conductor, a post created especially for him by Paavo Järvi and the orchestra directly upon the conclusion of the competition.

In 2016, Gomez was named Music Director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.  Since taking the helm, the orchestra has seen a marked increase in subscribers and donors to the orchestra and Gomez has worked tirelessly to introduce innovative and exciting new outreach activities whilst continuing to nurture and support existing education projects.  For example the unique Young Composers’ Project which sees students new to composing working closely with orchestra representatives to create new compositions, culminating in a public performance and recording. Maestro Gomez is also a champion of many lesser-known composers from South America, programming their works sensitively with more recognized classical names, creating hugely interesting and unique concerts.  He has also been responsible for commissioning new works, for example he and the orchestra were co-commissioners of a new concerto for orchestra and trumpet by Arturo Marquez which was given its US premiere with Trumpet soloist Pacho Flores under Gomez’s baton in 2019. Works by Michael Torke, Jonathan Leschnoff, Gabriela Smith, Peter Boyer and Jennifer Higdon are other examples of important Co-comissions premiered in Tucson.

To its early audiences in the final decade of the 19^th Century, Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony must’ve sounded quite revolutionary compared to many of the late-Romantic era music of that period and earlier. The wonderful thing about the piece is that it still does! The entire symphony demands your attention as it deftly navigates from one extreme to the other: quiet and loud, calm and fury, darkness and light. In just around an hour’s time, “Titan” takes the audience through a range of emotions that are unique to each listener as Gustav Mahler intended. In it, you hear a death march intertwined with a familiar child’s tune: “Frère Jacques” (“Are You Sleeping?” or “Where is Thumbkin?” in the U.S.).  At times “Titan” evokes nature, waltzy dances, and offstage fanfares — all of which immerse and captivate the listener.