MODESTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Contact:
Caroline Nickel
(209) 523-4156
cnickel@modestosymphony.org

For Immediate Release: September 19, 2023

(Pictured: Nicholas Hersh, MSO Music Director – photo by Stephanie Nolt; Alessio Bax, piano - photo by Marco Borggreve)

Modesto Symphony Orchestra 93rd Season Opens With New Music Director Nicholas Hersh

MSO’s Classic Series Programming Announced

The MSO’s 93rd season will open with a concert celebrating new Music Director Nicholas Hersh leading the MSO in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Copland’s Symphony No. 3

Hersh will return in February for a concert featuring William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, Lili Boulanger’s D’un Matin de Printemps (Of a Spring Morning), and Gershwin’s An American in Paris
March will bring a new format to the MSO with a concert curated by the orchestra. The program will feature music that was hand-selected by the orchestra to share with the community. The evening will end with an after-party where the audience can meet the orchestra!
Hersh and the MSO will be joined by violinist Tai Murray in April for Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. The program will also feature pieces by Piazzolla, Farrenc, and Bach.
The Classics Series will end with Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 9 which will feature the MSO Chorus and soloists.

MODESTO, CA – The Modesto Symphony Orchestra (MSO) will open its 93rd season with new Music Director Nicholas Hersh with Tchaikovsky & Copland on Friday, October 13 and Saturday, October 14, 2023. The program will start with Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro then will feature pianist Alessio Bax on Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The evening will conclude with Copland’s Symphony No. 3 which features the well-known theme from Fanfare for the Common Man. As part of the opening weekend festivities, the MSO will have an after-party in the lobby to celebrate the new season and their new Music Director Nicholas Hersh.

“We are so excited to open our Classics Series with our new Music Director Nicholas Hersh,” said Caroline Nickel, President and CEO of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra Association. “Nick immediately started to work completing the programming for our season and we are so excited to share it with the community. Everyone at the MSO is thrilled to have Nick’s artistic leadership and we can’t wait to see where we’ll go from here.”

MODESTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2023-24 CLASSICS SeRIES

Five concerts performed on both Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM in the Mary Stuart Rogers Theater at Gallo Center for the Arts.

Tchaikovsky & Copland
October 13 & 14, 2023 at 7:30pm
Nicholas Hersh, conductor
Alessio Bax, piano

PROGRAM
Amadeus Mozart: Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
Aaron Copland: Symphony No. 3

Artist Bios

Nicholas Hersh, Music Director

Alessio Bax, piano

Gershwin’s An American in Paris
February 9 & 10, 2024 at 7:30pm
Nicholas Hersh, conductor

PROGRAM
William Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony
Lili Boulanger: D’un Matin de Printemps (Of a Spring Morning)
George Gershwin: An American in Paris

Featured

February 9 & 10 / Gershwin's An American in Paris

Symphonic Soundtrack
March 15 & 16, 2024 at 7:30pm
Nicholas Hersh, conductor

Symphonic Soundtrack is a brand-new concert experience which will feature a special program curated by your MSO musicians and conclude with an afterparty that everyone can enjoy!

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto
April 12 & 13, 2024 at 7:30pm
Nicholas Hersh, conductor
Tai Murray, violin

PROGRAM
Astor Piazzolla: Tangazo
Louise Farrenc: Symphony No. 3 in G minor
Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Hersh: “Little Fugue” in G minor
Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor

Featured