Fleming will sing Strauss' Four Last Songs and a selection of opera arias on Sept. 29. Kahane will lead 10 programs in the classically oriented Masterworks series, including the opening-night (Sept.
20, 22-23) with pianist Olga Kern. Several works new to CSO audiences are featured, notably pieces by contemporary composers Kenneth Frazelle, Steven Mackey, Magnus Lindberg, David Cutler, Giya Kancheli and John Corigliano. "I've gotten a good sense of what our audience responds to," Kahane said.
"And I believe they're willing to be challenged, up to a certain level." The music director will preside at two concerts in a weekend series titled "Hope From Despair" (April 11-13), devoted to works by European composers caught in the Nazi purge during World War II - including Wladyslaw Szpilman, whose struggle to survive was depicted in the Oscar-winning film, The Pianist. Guest artists include violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Midori, Elmar Oliveira, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Nicola Benedetti; pianists Natasha Paremski, Gabriela Montero, Boulder native Christopher Taylor and Ingrid Fliter; guitarist Sharon Isbin and cellist Amanda Forsyth.
Conductor laureate Marin Alsop will preside on two weekends: a Schumann Festival (March 14-16) that includes the four symphonies, and a Beethoven-Rachmaninoff program (March 21-22) with Montero as soloist. Others visiting the Boettcher podium include associate conductor Scott O'Neil, chorus director Duain Wolfe, Zukerman, Edward Gardner, Douglas Boyd, Peter Oundjian, Carlos Miguel Prieto, former Denver Chamber Orchestra music director JoAnn Falletta and Scott Yoo. In addition to the Schumann weekend, concerts will be devoted to music by Mendelssohn (Oct.
5-7) and Debussy (March 2). Favorite repertory pieces include Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 5-7, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, Orff's Carmina Burana and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.
Among the guest artists in the pops series are Art Garfunkel, Bobby McFerrin, Robert Goulet, Eileen Ivers and Randy Newman. Tribute programs will present the hits of ABBA, Dave Matthews, Queen, the Beatles and, celebrating a 40th anniversary, Hair. Marc Shulgold is the music and dance writer.
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