In a classical music world turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, orchestras are bravely stepping forward in the 2020-21 concert season to commemorate French composer Florent Schmitt’s 150th birthday anniversary.
The international Bachtrack website is in the process of uploading its global database of classical music programs for the coming season. Although it doesn’t provide a complete or comprehensive listing of every professional group’s events, the site covers nearly all of the major orchestras, opera and ballet companies around the world, making it the global “go-to” resource for information about what’s happening on the classical music calendar.
[Having one of the most robust and easy-to-use search mechanisms of any website of its kind is an added plus for anyone looking for upcoming performances by composer, composition or performer.]
The 2019-20 concert season was a particularly bountiful one for devotees of the music of the French composer Florent Schmitt, in that ten of the composer’s orchestral pieces were on tap for performance by ensembles on five continents. Unfortunately, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020 meant that a number of the performances planned after March could not go on as scheduled.
But the distressing news of the pandemic and its impact on the performing arts hasn’t deterred orchestras from moving forward with their plans for the 2020-21 season.
That season is just now coming into focus – and we see that four important orchestral compositions of Florent Schmitt will be presented by orchestras and chamber ensembles in Duluth, Houston, Laon, Lille, Lucerne, Osaka, Paris, Québec City, St. Louis, Saratoga Springs and Tokyo, conducted by Stéphane Denève, Gustavo Dudamel, Fabien Gabel, Dirk Meyer, Tomoya Nakahara and Scott Terrell. (The Québec concert had not been officially announced as of publication time, but the details are set and the information will be added as soon as allowed.)
Cause for celebration: Florent Schmitt’s 150th birthday anniversary year is being commemorated by orchestral performances everywhere. (Portrait: Pierrette Lambert, 1992)
Moreover, the upcoming concert season is particularly significant in that it coincides with the 150th birthday anniversary of Florent Schmitt, thus providing an opportunity for a special commemorative focus on this composer and his artistic legacy.
Perhaps it is fitting that the schedule will feature more concert performances of La Tragédie de Salomé — Schmitt’s most famous orchestral piece — than have ever happened before in any single season. Among the presentations planned is the rarely performed 1907 original version of the ballet — scored for an orchestra of just 20 players but twice the length of the revised version prepared by the composer three years later.
A series of concerts in Japan during the 2020-21 season will commemorate the 150th birthday anniversary of Florent Schmitt.
Among the lesser known compositions being featured in the coming season is Schmitt’s exquisitely crafted Janiana Symphony for strings, dating from 1941. This gem of a piece is a highly anticipated and very welcome addition to the concert calendar. Plus, audiences will have the opportunity to hear a chamber orchestra version of the second movement from Schmitt’s String Quartet, composed in 1948 — one of the composer’s most complex compositions.
Listed below are details on the upcoming season’s concerts, along with web links to additional information about the performances and ticket reservations.
__________________________________________
June 12, 2020
Schmitt: La Tragédie de Salomé (Original version – 1907)
Ropartz: Petite symphonie
Sinfonietta Shizuoka; Tomoya Nakahara, conductor
___________________
June 26, 2020
Schmitt: Légende, Op. 66 (1918)
Barber: The School for Scandal Overture, Op. 5
Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber
Paterson: I See You
American Modern Orchestra; Scott Terrell, conductor
Wilson Poffenburger, saxophone
__________________
August 30 (Festival de la Chaise-Dieu), September 1 (Festival Ravel – St. Jean de Luz), September 3 (Lille) and September 4 (Laon), 2020
Schmitt: La Tragédie de Salomé, Op. 50 (1907/10)
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90
Schumann: Concerto in A Minor for Cello & Orchestra, Op. 129
Soh: Salomé
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Prelude & Love-Death
Orchestre Français des Jeunes; Fabien Gabel, conductor
Bruno Philippe, cello
__________________
September 5, 2020
Schmitt: Légende, Op. 66 (1918)
Debussy: Rapsodie pour saxophone
Stravinsky: L’Oiseau de feu (complete ballet)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Valentine Michaud, saxophone
__________________
October 17, 2020
Schmitt: Janiana Symphony for String Orchestra, Op. 101 (1941)
Connesson: The Ship of Ishtar
Ibert: Symphonie concertante
Roussel: Sinfonietta, Op. 52
Sinfonia Shizuoka; Tomoya Nakahara, conductor
Yumi Yoshimura, oboe
__________________
November 4, 2020
Schmitt: String Quartet, Op. 112: Rêve (Arranged for string orchestra – 1948/2020)
Haydn: Symphony No. 49 in F Minor “La Passione”
Mozart: Divertimento in B-Flat, K. 287 “Lodron”
Sinfonietta Shizuoka; Tomoya Nakahara, conductor
__________________
November 13-14, 2020
Schmitt: La Tragédie de Salomé, Op. 50 (1907/10)
Adams: Lola Montez Does the Spider Dance
Berlioz: La Mort de Cléopâtre
Bizet: Carmen: Selections
Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila: Bacchanale
Richard Strauss: Salome: Dance of the Seven Veils
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; Stéphane Denève, conductor
Gaëlle Arquez, mezzo-soprano
__________________
December 3, 2020
Schmitt: La Tragédie de Salomé, Op. 50 (1907/10)
Soh: Salomé
Strauss: Salome: Dance of the Seven Veils
Verdi: La Forza del Destino: Overture + Pace, pace mio Dio!
Verdi: Macbeth: Ballabile + Vieni d’affretta Accendere
Orchestre Français des Jeunes; Fabien Gabel, conductor
Kristine Opolais, soprano
__________________
February 5-7, 2021
Schmitt: La Tragédie de Salomé, Op. 50 (1907/10)
Chausson: Poème, Op. 25
Debussy: La Mer
Dutilleux: Sur le même accord
Ravel: Tzigane
Houston Symphony; Fabien Gabel, conductor
Simone Lamsma, violin
___________________
March 12-13, 2021
Schmitt: La Tragédie de Salomé, Op. 50 (1907/10)
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite
Stravinsky: Funeral Song, Op. 5
Tomasi: Trumpet Concerto
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; Fabien Gabel, conductor
Håken Hardenberger, trumpet
___________________
May 8, 2021
Schmitt: La Tragédie de Salomé, Op. 50 (1907/10)
Beethoven: The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43: Overture
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 “Choral”
Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra; Dirk Meyer, conductor
Sarah Lawrence, Christine Christenson, Daniel Montenegro, Cory Renbarger, solo vocalists
DSSO Chorus
___________________________________________
More information on these upcoming concerts can be found on the Bachtrack site, or on the web pages of the various arts organizations (click or tap on the links above).
In the coming weeks, it is likely that additional concerts featuring Florent Schmitt’s music will be announced for the upcoming season. They will be added to the listing above as soon as the information is known.