Dallas Symphony Tour Includes Baylor Performance
Baylor Media Contact: Lori Fogleman (254) 710-6275
DALLAS - The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) takes its show on the road this fall with its Dallas Symphony Orchestra 2005 Texas Tour. Along for the ride, 12-year-old violin prodigy Shannon Lee, as well as Baylor music alumni Giancarlo Guerrero, guest conductor, and David Heyde, associate principal horn.
With stops at four Texas universities, the DSO is ready to spread the word about this Lone Star State-sized project. Scheduled for Nov. 16-19, the tour includes stops at Tarleton State University, Baylor University, University of Houston and Texas A&M University.
"We are so excited about taking the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to other communities around Texas," says DSO President & CEO Fred Bronstein. "The DSO plays internationally and nationally as well as in our home base in Dallas, but as a leading performing arts organization and one of the state's oldest cultural organizations, we want to be a part of the total cultural fabric of this great state. We love the idea of touring Texas again after many years. It has been part of our history and it is very much a part of our strategic vision for the future."
The DSO will perform at Baylor at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, at Waco Hall, as part of the university's Distinguished Artist Series.
"The Baylor School of Music is delighted to bring the Dallas Symphony to Waco with Baylor alumnus Giancarlo Guerrero conducting," said Dr. William V. May, dean of the Baylor School of Music. "While we swell with pride, the Waco arts community will hear one of America's premier symphony orchestras."
Ticket reservations can be made by contacting Linda Dreyer at (254) 710-1161. Ticket prices are $40 for VIP seating/parking and $25 general admission.
Season tickets for Baylor's Distinguished Artist Series also are on sale. Tickets are $75 for all five DAS events, including VIP tickets/parking for the DSO performance.
The concerts will be led by Guerrero, music director of the Eugene (Ore.) Symphony. Guerrero has conducted around the world, including concerts at the Kennedy Center. Lee is the soloist in Barber's Violin Concerto, an exciting work for the listener, although a challenging piece for the soloist. Already conductors like Itzhak Perlman and Christof Perick have recognized Lee's talent. Perick has even signed her for an upcoming European Tour. The performances also include Brahms' melodic Symphony No. 2 and Moncayo's spirited Huapango. This may be the most often-played work by a Mexican composer. Replacing the Moncayo during the College Station concert will be Barber's most popular work, his Adagio for Strings.
Additional activities are still being planned, including master classes by DSO musicians at each of the universities.
GIANCARLO GUERRERO
Giancarlo Guerrero began his tenure as music director of the Eugene Symphony In September 2002. A champion of new music, he has also initiated an exciting guest-composer series and has hosted several of America's most respected composers, including John Adams, John Corigliano, Jennifer Higdon and Aaron Jay Kernis. The orchestra has had the privilege of performing the West Coast premieres of their most recent works. Other recent orchestral engagements include appearances with the principal orchestras of Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Houston, Detroit, Oregon, North Carolina, San Diego and San Antonio, and the National Symphony Orchestra and Spoleto Festival Orchestra. In June 2004, Guerrero was awarded the Helen M. Thompson Award by the American Symphony Orchestra League, which recognizes outstanding young music directors and orchestra managers. Guerrero received his bachelor's degree in percussion from Baylor and his master's degree in conducting from Northwestern University in Illinois.
SHANNON LEE
Twelve-year-old Shannon Lee began studying the violin at the age of 4. Born in Canada, she moved to Plano, Texas, when she was 2 and first appeared with an orchestra at the age of 9 as soloist with the Texas Chamber Orchestra. Lee has won many prizes for her work, including the 2005 Bayard H. Friedman Award for Outstanding Student in Performing Arts, the Grand Prize in Texas Chamber Orchestra's Young Artist Competition, the national top prize in the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) Biennial National Solo Competition's Junior Division (18 and under), the Director's Prize in the 2004 Kingsville International Competition and was a Grand Prize winner of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's 2004 Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition. Lee recently appeared on the nationally broadcast radio show, "From the Top," will make her Carnegie Hall debut at the 2006 Fiddlefest and has been invited by Maestro Christof Perick to perform with his orchestras in Charlotte, N.C., and in Germany.
DAVID HEYDE
David Heyde joined the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as associate principal horn in September 2004. Before coming to Dallas, Heyde served for two seasons as the principal horn of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. He received his bachelor of music from Baylor University and a master of music from Southern Methodist University. Heyde has attended the Aspen, Sarasota, Music Academy of the West and Tanglewood summer festivals, and was rotating principal horn with the National Repertory Orchestra in 2001. His teachers have included fellow DSO hornists Gregory Hustis and Haley Hoops, as well as A. David Krehbiel, Jennifer Montone and Margaret Robinson. Heyde is married to Robyn, an elementary music teacher in Plano. Heyde is the son of Stephen and Linda Heyde. Stephen is The Mary Franks Thompson Professor of Orchestral Studies and Conductor-in-Residence at Baylor and the conductor/music director of the Waco Symphony.
THE DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Driven by a bold vision for the future, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra is on a strong path toward achieving true greatness. Guided by a new strategic plan, A Bold Plan for Greatness, the Dallas Symphony aims to rise to the top tier of American orchestras in the next decade, become a key catalyst in making Dallas a world-class city and major cultural center, and to be uniquely rooted and ubiquitous in the community. Financial stability is a key element of the plan as demonstrated by financial success in the 2003-2004 season that included a $50,000 surplus on a $22 million budget, growth in annual donations to their highest level ever and a substantial increase in endowment which now totals $100 million. The plan is also marked by important artistic initiatives that include thematic programming, a new series of recordings with Hyperion Records as well as new, strategic community collaborations such as the Chamber Music at the Nasher Series. A rich, 105-year history of artistic excellence supports this plan. Currently led by Music Director Andrew Litton, eminent chief conductors such as Antal Dorati, Paul Kletzki, Georg Solti and Eduardo Mata began laying the groundwork for important parts of today's DSO including extensive touring and recording, special community and education concerts and the building of the world-renowned Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, which celebrated its 15th anniversary during the 2004-2005 season.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2005 TEXAS TOUR
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Shannon Lee, violin
Moncayo: Huapango (TSU, BU, U of H)
Barber: Adagio for Strings (A&M)
Barber: Violin Concerto (all)
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 (all)
NOVEMBER 16, 2005
Tarleton State University - Stephenville
Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center Auditorium
Box office: 254-968-9634
PR office: 254-968-9071
NOVEMBER 17, 2005
Baylor University - Waco
Waco Hall
Box office: 254-710-1161
PR office: 254-710-6275
NOVEMBER 18, 2005
University of Houston - Houston
Central/Moores School of Music
Box office: 713-743-3313
PR office: 713-743-3307
NOVEMBER 19, 2005
Texas A&M University - College Station
Rudder Auditorium
Box office: 888-890-5667
PR office: 972-281-5220
Dallas Symphony Media Relations Department:
Kim D. Gifford
214-871-4082
k.gifford@dalsym.com
Pilar Schank
214-871-4061
p.schank@dalsym.com