Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s new music director is making his MasterWorks debut this weekend, conducting a program of Mozart and Schubert symphonies and Richard Strauss’ “Metamorphosen.”
This will be the second time we get José Luis Gomez behind the podium this season. He opened the Classics series in September and he’s back in March for another MasterWorks concert, “Youthful Exuberance from Mozart & Dvorák” including Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 and Dvorák’s popular Serenade for Strings on March 3, 4 and 5.
Gomez has been back to Tucson once — in November — since the September concert. But he’s been active behind the scenes putting together the orchestra’s 2017-18 season — his first full season since being named to the music director job last February.
Gomez is expected to announce the new season on Friday.
This weekend’s concert opens with Schubert’s mysterious and familiar Symphony No. 8, “Unfinished” — you’ll recognize melodies from the first two movements that Schubert finished from countless references in movies and TV, including episodes of “The Simpsons.” The orchestra also will perform Mozart’s Symphony No. 33 and Richard Strauss’ “Metamorphosen.”
At the March MasterWorks concert, Gomez will lead the orchestra in the world premiere of a piece the TSO commissioned from San Francisco-area composer Gabriella Smith. The following weekend, on March 9, he will join the famed Romero Guitar Quartet for a special concert before closing out the season with Richard Strauss’ “An Alpine Symphony” on April 7 and 9.
