There are no post-pandemic blues for the Dallas Chamber Symphony. If anything, the orchestra is experiencing a growth spurt as it hosts the Dallas International Piano Competition this month and announces its next season earlier than ever.
The Dallas International Piano Competition will be held June 12 - 18, with quarterfinals and semifinals at the Murchison Performing Arts Center in Denton. The final round of the competition will be June 18 at the Moody Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District.
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WATCH HEREEighteen candidates were invited to participate in the competition out of a large field of applicants.
“We’ve had a ton of applications this year so we’re at pre-pandemic levels which is great,” said Richard McKay, Dallas Chamber Symphony’s music and artistic director.
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SIGN UP At the final round of the competition, three finalists will perform with the full orchestra conducted by guest Jim Stopher, the Music Director of the College of Marin Symphony Orchestra. Stopher, who conducted the final round of last year’s violin competition, has a tricky assignment: he has to learn all 14 concertos in order to be prepared for the three finalists. In addition to the prizes awarded by jurors, the audience will be able to vote for their favorite pianist.
“I think the event has become more important It builds its reputation with each iteration of the competition and so more and more people are learning about it and are wanting to participate in this event. This is evident in the applications we receive which are from all the top schools around the world and the level of pianists that this event is attracting is astonishing,” McKay said. “We think this event gives people around the world a reason to pay attention to the Dallas Chamber Symphony, gives them a reason to check in with what is a regional chamber orchestra that has relevance on a national and international stage.”
Dallas Chamber Symphony plans on alternating between piano and violin competitions. Next year, the orchestra will conclude its 2024-2025 season with a violin competition.
The orchestra announced its 2024-2025 season at its April 30 concert, thanks to a gift from Andy and Jennifer Scripps.
The Scene
“I think it’s a very good season. It’s a season with many different things in it. If you were to examine the season closely, I think it checks a lot of boxes,” McKay said. “It’s a busy season with a lot of meaty repertoire, and more full chamber orchestra repertoire than we’ve presented in the past.”
Typically, the orchestra announces its season in August or September, only a couple of months before the first concert of its season.
“We were always in a difficult situation where we would have to sell our subscription packages and then open up to single ticket sales in a very short period of time right before the start of the season. This is extremely disadvantageous from a sales point of view for any arts organization. This really shifts the planning and the sales operation of our entire company, so it is running six months or more earlier than in prior seasons,” McKay said.
Including the final round of the Dallas International Violin Competition, the season consists of six concerts. Season subscriptions are now on sale and single tickets go on sale for all of the concerts on August 1.
The season opens with a movie-in-concert performance of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger on October 15. The performance will feature Douglas Pipes’ original score commissioned by the Dallas Chamber Symphony.
The November 19 concert will feature pianist Christopher Goodpasture performing Liszt’s Malédiction and Turina’s Rapsodia sinfónica as well as Schubert’s Death and the Maiden.
“This is a concert that features a lot of off-the-beaten-path music for piano and string orchestra,” McKay said.
On January 14, the orchestra will perform Respighi’s Trittico botticelliano, Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending with violinist Sarah Ma and Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony. Trittico is inspired by three paintings by Sandro Botticelli now hanging in the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence.
“It’s one of those pieces we’ve been wanting to program for a long time and that any great chamber orchestra would program,” McKay said.
The March 4 concert consists of Thomas Adès’ Three Studies from Couperin, Saint Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 featuring the orchestra’s concertmaster Kazuhiro Takagi, and Bizet’s Symphony in C.
“It’s a bit of a French program,” McKay said.
The April 29 concert will feature Schumann’s First Symphony and the winner of the Dallas International Piano Competition 2024 as well as the world premiere of composer Joe Kraemer’s orchestral piece. Kraemer, best known for the film score of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, composed an original score for the orchestra’s movie-in-concert performance of Sunrise last October.
“It’s a new experience for him because he’s spent almost his entire career writing for film,” McKay said.
Further growing the company, the orchestra is searching for a development director. The position will be funded by an anonymous donor for three years.
“I’m excited to be bringing on our full-time development director. I’m excited about what that might mean for the resources for the orchestra,” McKay said.
With ticket sales up and the orchestra playing better than pre-pandemic, McKay is looking forward to what is possible for the Dallas Chamber Symphony.
"We've projected what we think our full season should look like when fully, properly funded. We've drawn up what we think a mature season for a professional chamber orchestra would look like in Dallas at Moody Performance Hall so yes, that entails adding more events, " McKay said. “I’ve never felt better about the future of the orchestra."
Learn more: Dallas Chamber Symphony
