Classical music is alive

Orchestra announces 2018/2019 season

The Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra’s 2018-19 season will be its 51st year of providing the Island with live symphonic music.

Currently under the music direction of maestro Mark Shapiro, each year the 60-member orchestra presents four large concerts in Charlottetown, featuring musical guests from across the region.

On Oct. 21 at Zion Church, the opening concert of season 51 features a rare revival of Linda Bouchard’s Exquisite Fires, and guest cellist Denise Djokic will join the orchestra to perform Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B minor. Continuing with the fire theme, the program also includes Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony Number 59, “Fire”.

Concert number two is at the Confederation Centre of the Arts where the PEISO will be joined by this year’s roots guest artist - singer/songwriter David Myles. Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony Number 5 will also be performed at that concert which takes place on Nov. 25.

In the third concert of the season, on Feb. 24, the orchestra will be led by guest conductor Dina Gilbert, music director of l’Orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire (Quebec), Montreal-based chamber orchestra Ensemble Arkea, and the Kamloops Symphony. She’ll lead the PEISO through Zoltán Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, PierreWissmer’s Symphony Number 1 and Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite Number 1, again at Zion Church. The winter concert will also feature the young winner of the Suzanne Brenton Award, who will be awarded the opportunity to perform as a featured soloist.

The season will conclude on April 14 with a return to the Confederation Centre’s Homburg Theatre. Gustav Mahler’s lengthy Symphony Number 3 will comprise the entire concert program, and will feature soloists, two choirs, and enlarged orchestra.

“Four beautiful concerts featuring thrilling artistic partners and sizzling combinations of timeless repertoire - what’s not to love?” said Shapiro. “Let PEISO be your 2018-19 go-to for inspiration, friendship and solace. We’ll deliver. That’s a promise.”

Early-bird pricing is now available for a subscription to the entire season. Call the P.E.I. Symphony at 902-892-4333 or go online at www.peisymphony. com to purchase a season subscription.

Individual concert tickets will be available from the Confederation Centre’s Box Office later in the year.

Aside from concert admission savings, advantages to season subscriptions include priority Confederation Centre seating, invitation to exclusive member events and discounts to Indian River Festival and certain Live at The Centre concerts.