“What I try is to have unity and diversity at the same time.” – CSO music director Louis Langrée

Violin superstar Joshua Bell, a phenomenal Russian pianist named Daniil Trifonov and renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein are just a few of the stars in an exceptional lineup coming to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra next season.

Program highlights of the 2018-19 season are just as attractive. Louis Langrée’s Beethoven cycle will continue with Beethoven’s great Symphony No. 9, Choral. The repertoire includes Stravinsky’s earthy, primitive ballet score “The Rite of Spring,” Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” Mozart’s Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

Langrée will lead an all-French gala opening concert, as well as nine concerts of the 20-program subscription season. Guest conductors will include the returning maestra Karina Canellakis, David Robertson, Sir Mark Elder and Finnish master John Storgårds, leading one of his specialties, Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5. The superb conductor Donald Runnicles will make his debut in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8.

And the orchestra will continue its commitment to new music with composer-in-residence Jonathan Bailey Holland, who will compose a new work for chorus and orchestra to pair on the program with Beethoven’s Ninth.

“What I try is to have unity and diversity at the same time,” said Langrée, who leads his sixth year as music director next season. “So, it’s having Beethoven’s Ninth in the same concert as a world premiere, having rising stars and superstars, having soloists coming from all over, and also our own soloists.”

Next year, seven members of the orchestra will be featured, including one – principal violist Christian Colberg – who is also composing the Viola Concerto that he will play. CSO Concertmaster Timothy Lees will appear as soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish.

A new era for the orchestra

The cultural renaissance in Over-the-Rhine and the orchestra’s move back into Music Hall after its $143 million renovation has re-energized the orchestra, said Langrée earlier this week in his backstage office.

“I think it’s an amazing time. We just took two international tours, we just had this major renovation and now we’re nominated for two Grammy Awards. I mean, what can you dream of?” he said. “There is a vibe, there is energy, there is fresh blood — and art is in the center of that.”

Langrée will launch the season on Sept. 22 with an all-French program, specifically tailored to test the new acoustics of Music Hall following its renovation.

“It’s not because I’m French,” said the conductor. “But now, because the sound is more detailed, let’s play these pieces – Dukas’ ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,’ Ravel’s  ‘Daphnis and Chloé’ — to show this color. French music is largely about colors.”

The celebrated, Indiana-born violinist Joshua Bell will open the subscription series on Sept. 28-29 with one of the most ravishing concertos in the repertoire, the Sibelius Violin Concerto. That program also includes the one piece that Langrée can’t wait to conduct: Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du printemps” (The Rite of Spring).

“For every conductor, musician, music lover, it is an event. It’s raw, primal, it’s almost orgiastic,” he said. “This is a piece, even though it was written more than 100 years ago, that still sounds modern. I can understand why there were riots (at its Paris premiere in 1913). It is violent and shocking and bringing something so complex.”

The Beethoven Revolution

Next season, the orchestra continues its three-year Beethoven cycle with the Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 9. Beethoven’s revolutionary Symphony No. 3, Eroica (Feb. 23-24, 2019) is paired with Thomas Adés’ Violin Concerto: Concentric Paths, featuring the popular violinist Leila Josefowicz as soloist.

Beethoven’s Ninth will be the focus of the orchestra’s annual One City initiative in November (formerly known as One City, One Symphony). For the first time, members of the Classical Roots Community Mass Choir, consisting of local church choir members, will join the May Festival Chorus for its “Ode to Joy” finale. The soloists for that magnificent work will be soprano Angel Blue, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, tenor Rodrick Dixon and bass Dashon Burton.

Then there is Daniil Trifonov, winner of the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011, who is being touted as one of the most exciting talents on the stage today. The Russian pianist will make his debut in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No., 4, with Langrée conducting (May 3-4).

Indeed, for piano lovers, there is lots to love. Piano legend Yefim Bronfman returns to perform Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 (Nov. 30-Dec. 1). Kirill Gerstein performs Rachmaninoff’s arch-romantic Piano Concerto No. 3 on Jan. 4-5. Yevgeny Sudbin plays the perennial favorite Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (Nov. 2-3). And Alexander Gavylyuk, who has toured with the CSO to Lincoln Center and Asia, returns to perform Prokofiev’s knuckle-breaking Piano Concerto No. 3 (Nov. 24-25), under the baton of guest conductor Kirill Karabits.

Pianist Peter Serkin will make an overdue return, this time to play Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (March 1-2).

Other highlights of the soloist roster will include violinist Augustin Hadelich, Musical America’s 2018 Instrumentalist of the Year, who performs the lyrical Barber Violin Concerto and Ravel’s rhapsodic “Tzigane” (gypsy piece), March 15-16.

Among the guest conductor debuts, Christopher Roundtree will lead an all-American program of John Adams’ “The Chairman Dances,” Copland’s Billy the Kid Suite and Barber’s Essay No. 1. Electric violinist Tracy Silverman will be the soloist in Adams’ “The Dharma at Big Sur,” which the composer wrote for him (Oct. 5-6).

And guest conductor Matthias Pintscher will join with cellist Alisa Weilerstein in a performance of his own work for cello and orchestra, “Un despertar” (April 27-28).

Langrée is greatly anticipating his March 15-16 program, when he leads the American premiere of a new critical edition of Gershwin’s jazzy tone poem, “An American in Paris.” In September, Langrée led  the world premiere of the new edition (which features Parisian taxi horns in their original tuning) in Paris at a new concert hall, La Seine Musicale, to close the orchestra’s three-week European tour.

“It was so special,” he said of the Paris performance. “Everyone knows it, but everyone felt it was different. The more we play it, the more we enjoy the differences. (Instead of) overly-lush Hollywood orchestration, it’s something more like (the French group) Les Six. It’s a different story.”

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony will close the 2018-19 season on May 10-11. The orchestra’s history with this symphony is significant: In 1905, the Cincinnati Symphony performed its American premiere.

“Not many people knew who Mahler was in 1905. Then, it was contemporary music,” the conductor said. “It speaks to our tradition of being a place of experimentation.”

The new season, he believes, will set the stage for the orchestra’s 125th anniversary in 2020.

“It’s so wonderful to experience something so special, because the relationship between the orchestra and community is very different from other places,” said the maestro, whose contract has been renewed until 2022. “The orchestra is really part of the community, part of the city. That’s why it is so essential that I live here with my family. A music director is not only making the best concert possible. It’s a special relationship.”

Ticket details, and more

Subscription packages, starting at $84, go on sale beginning Friday, Jan. 26.

This year, there are special incentives for subscribers. CSO series subscribers who purchase 12 or more concerts receive their choice of “Le Gala D’Ouverture,” One City: Beethoven’s Ninth, or “Trifonov Plays Beethoven” for free on a first-come, first-served basis. Subscribers purchasing 18 concerts are to receive one ticket to two of those concerts for free.

Single tickets, from $15, for the subscription series go on sale to the general public July 30.  All tickets and subscriptions include a 3.5 percent facility fee to pay for maintenance of Music Hall.

Separately ticketed special concerts include the opening gala, “La Gala D’Ouverture,” on Sept. 22, and Classical Roots, on March 8, 2019. The latter celebrates the African-American musical heritage.

The Cincinnati Pops season, which is led by John Morris Russell, will be announced at a later date. The Pops season will include another special Harry Potter performance on Dec. 28-30. Tickets are currently on sale for that event.

Parking: Subscribers can purchase guaranteed parking in the Washington Park Garage for $15 per concert, and donors of $1,500 or more to the CSO Annual Fund receive free parking in the surface lot next to Music Hall for each performance. Valet services will also be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Handicap Parking is available in the Town Center (CET) and Washington Park garages. Other public parking options are available surrounding Music Hall, which is located on the Cincinnati Bell Connector line.

For more details about parking at Music Hall visit cincinnatisymphony.org/parking.

Tickets, to see the entire season and for other information: 513-381-3300, cincinnatisymphony.org/subscribe.