Summer’s here!

After a thrilling end to the Jacksonville Symphony’s season last week, I’m in Calgary, Canada, conducting the excellent Calgary Philharmonic. Even this far north, the sun in shining and couples sit at coffee tables on the sidewalks soaking up the rays, replenishing diminished vitamin D levels. Meanwhile, all across the globe orchestral musicians are putting their tails into mothballs, and discovering with horror that their white tuxedo jackets have turned an even more alarming shade of yellow. It must be summer! So what do we musicians do in the summer, once the season has ended? Some orchestras keep playing. I’ll be assisting the New York Philharmonic next week as they play concerts in Central Park. It’s a wonderful start to summer, as tens of thousands

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A season of firsts

Last week we announced the 2015/16 Jacksonville Symphony season. This is a big moment in every orchestra’s year. It’s a manifesto for the future, not just outlining the music that will be played, but also giving a glimpse of long-term vision. As the first season I’ve planned since taking the music directorship, I think it’s fair to say that there has been a certain degree of anticipation about what’s in store. So here’s the inside story. Let’s start with the series of concerts for which we’re best known: Florida Blue Masterworks on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. This is our flagship series, presenting the widest range of repertoire. I’m excited about playing music that our audience knows and loves, like Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Holst’s suite

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