In May of next year, Jaap van Zweden will conduct his final concert as music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, capping off 11 seasons with the classic music company.
Van Zweden’s planned departure was announced more than a year ago, and it will be another year-plus before his last wave of the baton as artistic leader of the DSO, but there are plenty of other performances until then, as just revealed in the DSO’s release of its 2017–18 season.
The season starts on Sept. 14 and 17 as he leads Mahler’s 5th Symphony. (He’ll also lead the DSO gala concert on Sept. 16.) He will then conduct Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and “Eroica” Symphony No. 3 (Sept. 28–Oct. 1). He will end 2017 conducting celloist Alisa Weilerstein in Prokofiev and Schumann (Nov. 24–26). He returns in 2018 conducting the Lebeque sisters in piano pieces by Phillip Glass and Bruckner (Fe. 2–3), and immediately returns to conduct Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 (Feb. 8–10) and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Feb. 23–25).
Van Zweden will conclude with a flurry of three ambitious concerts in close succession: Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 (April 26–28), a complete concert version (including vocals) of Wagner’s opera Die Walkure (May 18–20) and finally the legendary Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven (May 24–26).
That won’t be the entire lineup from the DSO, however. In addition, there will be violinist Hilary Hahn (Sept. 21–24), with James Diaz on organ, performing Sebelius, Dvorak and more; pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Oct. 19–22) performing Debussy and Ravel; a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini (Nov. 2–5); Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony No. 3 (Nov. 16–19); Rachmanioff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (Jan. 11–13, 2018); Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with soloist Nicola Benedetti (Jan. 18–21); Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique” Symphony No. 6 (Feb. 15–18); Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 (March 8–11); the complete lineup of Bach’s six Brandenberg concerti (March 22–25); and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 (April 12–15).
There will also be a Pops Series (beginning with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue), and include movie music, a Christmas concert and Broadway legend Bernadette Peters.
Season packages go on sale today, starting at $119. Visit MyDSO.com.