May 15, 2008
Concert goers Can Expect Something Great from The Maryland Symphony Orchestra’s 2008-09 Season

Hagerstown, MD—The Maryland Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Elizabeth Schulze have announced the programming for their 27th annual season, Expect Something Great! All performances (with the exception of Salute to Independence) are held at the historic Maryland Theatre in downtown Hagerstown.

The 2008-09 season includes five Masterworks concerts, the annual Home for the Holidays celebration, the MSO Pops! Concert featuring A Tribute to Fred and Ginger and the quad state’s most patriotic tradition, Salute to Independence, which takes place at the Antietam National Battlefield.

Expect to be Swept off Your Feet when the season begins on September 20, 2008 with the MSO Pops! Concert. You won’t want to miss this tribute to song and dance legends Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Tony award winning actress Debbie Gravitte and musical theatre veterans Kirby Ward and Joan Hess are the Symphony’s special guests for this enchanting evening that will bring back the nostalgia of the 1930s Hollywood film musicals.

Expect Monumental Masterworks throughout the entire Masterworks Series that begins on October 18 & 19, 2008 with the return of violinist Rachel Barton Pine. Proclaimed by the Colorado Springs’ Gazette as one of the greatest violinists playing today, Barton Pine wowed MSO audiences during the 2005-06 season. She will perform Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto. Also performed during the Masters of Melody program will be Antonin Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8 and Prelude to Die Meister singer by Richard Wagner.

On November 15 & 16, 2008 the MSO continues the Masterwork Series with Two Centuries of Classics, an all-orchestral program that showcases the artistry of its musicians by taking audience members on a tour of musical history spanning over two centuries. Featured will be a delightful and humorous nod to Mozart and Haydn with Alfred Schnittke’s Moz-Art `a la Haydn; Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3; Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 45 “Farewell”; and Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 “Classical”.

Expect a Musical Sleigh Ride at the MSO’s traditional Home for the Holidays concert on December 13 at 7:00 p.m. & December 14 at 3:00 p.m. This joyful celebration of the season will feature Christmas classics for both the young and the young at heart. Special guests will be announced at a later date.

Expect to be Moved by the MSO’s own principal horn player, Joseph Lovinsky and guest tenor Scott Williamson as the orchestra begins the new year by continuing the Masterworks Series on February 14 & 15, 2009 with British Serenade, a musical journey featuring three of England’s greatest composers. Edgar Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture and Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 2 “London” offers two different perspectives on life in turn-of-the-century London. And symphony fans won’t want to miss Lovinsky and Williamson (an audience favorite for his performance in the MSO’s Carmina Burana) performing Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31.

Expect a World Class Performance from award-winning pianist Chu-Fang Huang during the fourth Masterworks concert, Dawn of the Romantics, on March 21 & 22, 2009 when she joins the MSO in Ludwig van Beethoven’s powerful Piano Concerto No. 3. The orchestra will also be performing Felix Mendelssohn’s Märchen von der schönen Melusine and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 “Rhenish”.

Expect to be Awed when the Masterworks Series comes to a dramatic finale with A Symphonic Space Odyssey on April 25 & 26, 2009 featuring Gustav Holst’s The Planets which will be paired with a three dimensional computer-generated animation of the solar system projected above the orchestra. The Hood College Choir will be featured in the performance as well. Complimenting the solar system theme will be performances of John Williams’ Star Wars Theme; Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy (who had an asteroid named after him in 1988); and, Helios Overture by Carl Nielsen whose inspiration came from viewing the rising sun over the Aegean Sea.

The Masterworks Series is on Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. The Pops! concert begins at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday evening and the Home for the Holidays Concert is held at 7:00 p.m. Saturday evening and 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

Music Director Elizabeth Schulze will once again provide insights into the music, musicians and composers during “Prelude”, held one hour prior to every Masterworks performance. The half-hour talk is free to all ticket holders.

Season subscriptions for the MSO are now available at the Symphony office at 30 West Washington Street in downtown Hagerstown or by calling 301-797-4000. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Season subscribers enjoy such benefits as priority seating, free ticket replacement and flexible ticket exchanges while receiving significant savings off regular single ticket prices.

New season subscribers save 50% off the regular price on the Masterworks Series of five concerts and an additional 30% when those same subscribers renew the following season. Group discounts and student tickets are also available. Single tickets will go on sale August 15.

For more information on the Maryland Symphony Orchestra please visit our web site at www.marylandsymphony.org.

The Maryland Symphony Orchestra is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. An agency of the Department of Business and Economic Development, the MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to non-profit organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities.

The Maryland Symphony Orchestra is the area’s premier professional orchestra, dedicated to providing musical performances that educate and entertain, while enhancing the cultural environment of Western Maryland and the surrounding region.