Santa Rosa Symphony presents new and familiar faces, repertoire

When Music Director Bruno Ferrandis strides to the podium to kick off his final full season with the Santa Rosa Symphony this weekend, the 56-year-old conductor will be pulling out a familiar bag of tricks designed to dazzle and delight.

During the symphony's 89th season, famous friends will be joining him as soloists; programs will have radical contrasts in styles; colorful works will draw from theater, opera and dance; and a few contemporary works will balance out familiar warhorses by Brahms and Beethoven.

“The most important to me are the allusions to opera, theater and ballet,” Ferrandis said in a phone interview from his home in Paris. “I like to mingle the arts - I like that mix of the world - and not to be in an Ivory Tower.”

New faces this season include Jenny Bent, who directs the SSU Symphonic Chorus and has been named the new Santa Rosa Symphony choral director; and music historian Kayleen Asbo, who will give four out of the seven pre-concert lectures.

“It's nice to change traditions and to evolve,” said Ferrandis, who will host the first pre-concert lecture in October with his brother, flutist Jean Ferrandis; with harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet in January; and with violinist Vadim Gluzman in May.

This year marks the 11th season for Ferrandis, who shepherded the orchestra through its tricky transition into Weill Hall in the Green Music Center five years ago while overseeing the hiring of a new generation of young players.

“I'm so proud because we built it up, brick by brick,” he said of the orchestra. “There was a renewal and an increasing improvement and popularity of the orchestra.”

This November, the symphony's 10-member search committee is expected to announce names of the five finalists as Ferrandis' successor.

After the finalists try out during the 2017-2018 season, Ferrandis will return for the final two concerts to bid adieu to the orchestra, the staff and the people of Sonoma County at the end of 2018.

“I will terribly miss Northern California, the wines, the people, the scenery and the Pacific Ocean,” he said. “I have a strong relationship as an artist with the public. In Europe, you don't have that unless you stay 30 years in the same place.”

A final decision on Ferrandis' successor will be announced in February 2018, said Alan Silow, executive director of the Santa Rosa Symphony.

“The audience will give their feedback through an online survey,” Silow said, “and the board makes the final decision.”

Meanwhile, here's what to expect during this season's Classical Series:

“The Magic of the Flute,” Oct. 8-10

Ferrandis' younger brother, flutist Jean Ferrandis, returns to perform two works with the orchestra for the season opener: the Mozart Flute Concerto No.1 and Bernstein's haunting “Halil,” a work for flute and chamber orchestra written in 1981 to commemorate a young Israeli flutist who was killed in 1973.

“Jean said, ‘We have to do “Halil,” ... because we both had ties with Bernstein at the time,” Ferrandis said. “It's very melodic, but then you can feel the explosions of war.”

The flutist last performed with the symphony in 2012, during the orchestra's final concert at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. Since that time, he has become a tenured professor of music at CSU Fullerton.

“He's more seasoned and adapted to California now,” Ferrandis said of his brother.

Rounding out the program will be Beethoven's light-hearted but not lightweight Symphony No. 8 and Britten's Four Sea Interludes from “Peter Grimes,” an appealing piece that gives a nod to Ferrandis' love of opera.

“Keyboard Brilliance,” Nov. 5-7

One of the world's most virtuosic pianists - 35-year-old Orion Weiss - will perform the Bartok Piano Concerto No. 2, a thorny challenge for soloist and orchestra alike. The Hungarian, who also played the piano, is considered one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.

Opening the concert will be a work by another Hungarian pianist, Lizst's symphonic poem, “Les Préludes.” The symphony will close the concert with Schumann's “Symphony No. 2,” one of Ferrandis' favorite works, also written by a pianist.

“I'm a Gemini, and he's the epitome of a Gemini - very mercurial, impetuous and hard to predict,” he said. “The first theme is solemn, but the finale is bursting with joy.”

“Poetic Bells,” Dec. 3-5

There is a hidden, literary theme in this vocal concert - American poet and short story writer Edgar Allen Poe.

The concert includes Edward Elgar's beloved “Enigma Variations,” which is also the name of one of Poe's most famous poems, “An Enigma.” Rachmaninoff's choral symphony, “The Bells,” features the SSU Symphonic Chorus directed by Jenny Bent and is based on a poem by Poe.

“We are going to sing it in English, for practical reasons,” Ferrandis said. “To memorize it in Russian is more complex.”

The concert opens with “Prayer Bells” by contemporary composer Augusta Reed Thomas and concludes with a tasty bonbon: Rachmaninoff's beloved “Vocalise” for soprano and orchestra, featuring soprano Jenni Samuelson.

“Heavenly Harp,” Jan. 7-9

Ferrandis invited Berlin Philharmonic Principal Harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet, an old childhood friend who attended conservatory with him, to perform two contrasting concertos: the Ginastera Harp Concerto and the Debussy's “Dances Sacred and Profane.”

“The Ginastera is very technical and percussive and dance-like and Argentinean,” he said. “On the contrary, the Debussy is very mellifluous and lyrical.”

And to add to the French flavor, he added two suites from one of the most famous French ballets, Ravel's “Daphnis and Chloé,” and an operatic curtain-opener, Rossini's Overture to “The Thieving Magpie.”

“Tales of Love,” Feb. 11-13

As a love letter to Shakespeare, the symphony will present two works inspired by his most famous tragedy, written by two of the best orchestrators in the world. As the curtain-opener, Ferrandis chose Berlioz's Introduction to “Roméo et Juliette,” and as a closer, he will conduct Prokofiev's Selections from “Romeo and Juliet.”

“That's my theatrical touch,” Ferrandis said. “The Berlioz piece is quite famous but not played that often.”

The centerpiece of the concert will be Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2, a mighty masterpiece performed by Italian pianist Alessio Bax. In October 2014, Bax came to Santa Rosa to accompany violinist Joshua Bell in a gala recital hosted by the symphony.

“Bring on the Strings,” March 25-27

A showcase for a few of the principal string players in the symphony, this concert highlights Concertmaster Joe Edelberg and Principal Violist Elizabeth Prior in Mozart's Sinfonia concertante and Principal Cellist Adelle-Akiko Kearns in Fauré's “Elégie” for Cello.

After intermission, Ferrandis chose to perform two works by Sibelius: His audacious Symphony No. 4, written during a dark time of his life before World War I; and his sparkling “Finlandia,” a popular tone poem that evokes the natural splendor of the composer's native country.

As a mirror of the symphony's meditative quality, the concert will open with Alan Hovhaness' “Meditation on Orpheus.”

“Orpheus is the god of mysteries, rituals and magic,” Ferrandis said. “And the Sibelius symphony is extremely mysterious as well.”

“Vadim Returns!,” May 6-8

Russian-Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman, who opened the symphony season in 2008 with the Beethoven Violin Concerto, returns for this all-Russian program, tackling the athletic heights of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2.

The program opens with Khachaturian's Suite from “Masquerade,” a piece written for a stage play by Russian playwright Mikhail Lermontov. The season finale will be Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11, “The Year 1905,” written in 1957 about the insurrection against the Tsar.

“All three composers knew each other very well,” Ferrandis said. “It was a small circle of famous Russian composers.”

Staff writer Diane Peterson can be reached at 707-521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @dianepete56.