George Hanson introduced himself to Tucson 20 years ago with Schumann’s Symphony No. 2.
On March 7, at his second-to-last concert as TSO music director, it will be his farewell ode and a piece that draws the line between his 19 seasons with the orchestra and his new life in Leipzig, Germany. He and his family have settled into an apartment blocks away from those of Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn.
“Every piece on the (2014-15) season has a special meaning connected to my time here, the time for myself and my family,” Hanson said.
Next season’s lineup includes the return of artists who helped define Hanson’s tenure, including French-Canadian pianist Alain Lefèvre, with whom the orchestra recorded André Mathieu’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in 2008. Lefèvre debuted with the orchestra in November 2004 playing Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F and Mathieu’s Quebec Concerto. He returns Sept. 26 to open the 2014-15 season with the Gershwin.
That concert also includes Bernstein’s “On the Town: Three Dance Episodes” — Bernstein was a mentor to Hanson — and Copland’s Symphony No. 3 with his moving fourth movement “Fanfare for the Common Man.” The orchestra performed the Copland at the memorial service held three days after the Jan. 8, 2011, mass shootings. President Obama addressed the nation during the nationally televised service.
The season also includes the return on Dec. 5 of Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman, who played Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the TSO in February 2010.
“He did the most exciting Tchaikovsky Concerto I’ve ever heard,” Hanson said.
Violinist Chee-Yun will perform the Tchaikovsky Oct. 24 and 26 while Gluzman will perform the Prokofiev Violin Concerto in a program that also includes the world premiere of a new work by TSO Composer in Residence Dan Coleman and Brahms Symphony No. 1. The Prokofiev also draws a line back to Germany; Gluzman is set to perform the work the following week in Germany with the Berlin Philharmonic, Hanson said.
Highlights of the new season also include the orchestra’s contribution to the 2015 Tucson Desert Song Festival, Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier,” featuring the return of soprano Katie Van Kooten. Van Kooten was an audience favorite when she was a soloist in 2012 for the orchestra’s first-ever performance of Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis.”
Hanson’s crowning jewel of next season will be his final turn at the podium with the TSO when he performs Mahler’s behemoth choral work Symphony No. 3 on March 13 and 15. Hanson has been waiting his entire tenure to perform the work, which the orchestra has never done in its 85 years.
The orchestra was set to perform the Mahler in 2005-06, but cut it and several other works from the season in spring 2005 as part of orchestrawide belt-tightening.
The 2014-15 season also includes Disney “Fantasia Live” on Nov. 29-30; The Ultimate Symphonic Rock Show Feb. 7-8; The Texas Tenors on Feb. 28 and March 1; teen wünderkind Ethan Bortnick on March 28-29, 2015; and the return of The Canadian Brass next March 21.
TSO Principal Timpanist Kimberly Toscano takes the spotlight Feb. 13 and 15 for Kraft’s Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra on a program that includes Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.
