TSO conductor search entering final stretch next season

Tucson Symphony Orchestra will take several guest conductors on second dates next season as it enters the homestretch of its search for a conductor to replace George Hanson.

TSO President and CEO Mark Blakeman said he hopes to have a decision on the new conductor by the end of the 2015-16 season, which he announced to a roomful of TSO patrons and season ticket-holders at the Tucson Symphony Center last Tuesday.

Several of the guest conductors are on their third and fourth turns at the podium, including Andrew Grams, who will conduct the opening weekend concert (“Rachmaninoff Dance, Copland Romance,” Sept. 25 and 27) before returning next spring to conduct the orchestra in Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” (March 18 and 20, 2016). Grams has had two guest spots with the orchestra, including leading the TSO in “The Ultimate Symphonic Rock Show” pops concert earlier this month.

“It’s a long process and such a critical decision,” Blakeman told the group gathered for Tuesday’s season rollout.

In an interview later in his office, he added, “Each one of them brings something special to the podium. This is a tremendous opportunity in front of us in bringing the next maestro to Tucson. It’s a catalyst for creating a lot of excitement for the orchestra in the community.”

Blakeman and longtime TSO principal pianist Paula Fan — who with TSO violinist Benjamin Nisbet introduced the Classics Series concerts — compared the conductor search to a blind date. Conductors who hit it off with audiences and the musicians on their first date this season were asked back, Blakeman explained.

The guest conductors worked with TSO management to put together next season’s programs, which include nine works never performed by the TSO and two world premieres. The season also includes TSO debuts of several big-name artists: piano great André Watts (Feb. 27, 2016), jazz trumpeter Byron Stripling (Jan. 16-17), jazz vocalist Curtis Stigers (Feb. 13-14), Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble Mambo Kings (March 12-13, 2016) and The Chieftains (Feb. 23, 2016).

Hanson will close out his 19-year tenure with the TSO March 13 and 15, conducting Mahler’s choral Symphony No. 3, the first time the orchestra has ever performed the piece. He returns next season as conductor laureate, leading the orchestra in “Mahler and Martial Arts” (Jan. 22 and 24) and “Moonstruck: Schumann & Schmidt” (Jan. 9 and 10).