Four Florent Schmitt orchestral works are featured in the new 2024-25 season of concerts in Antwerp, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Montréal, Valladolid and Wellington.

In addition to multiple presentations of Schmitt’s best-known composition La Tragédie de Salomé, music-lovers will be treated to several works from the composer’s early and late career.

Four orchestral works spanning Florent Schmitt’s lengthy compositional career are part of the 2024-25 international concert season.

Marc Taddei

For the upcoming 2024-25 concert season, the popularity of Florent Schmitt’s ballet La Tragédie de Salomé (1907-10) continues on its upward trajectory — a trend that sees no signs of abating. One of them will be the first-ever performance of this work in New Zealand, offered by Orchestra Wellington under the direction of the American-born conductor Marc Taddei.

Fabien Gabel (2022 photo)

French conductor Fabien Gabel continues his committed advocacy for the Salomé score by presenting the piece with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León in Spain.

Also being programmed this season is a composition from the same period as Schmitt’s Salomé — his Lied et scherzo (1910) — which will be presented by members of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Selina Ott (Photo: Matthias Kernstock)

Late-career Florent Schmitt will be represented by the composer’s Suite en trois parties for trumpet and orchestra (1955). Håkan Hardenberger has been a major proponent of this music, performing (and recording) the piece in recent years. This season, however, internationally-famed trumpet soloist Selina Ott will do the honors, presenting the work as part of a New Year’s concert offered by the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lio Kuokman.

Lio Kuokman

And Schmtit’s earliest period of creativity is represented as well, in a performance of his Soirs (1890-96), a work originally penned for piano and subsequently orchestrated by the composer. Soirs will be played by the Orchestre Classique de Montréal under the direction of Jacques Lacombe — the first time since 2009 that the orchestral version of this piece has been performed in Canada.

Jacques Lacombe

The upcoming concert season provides variety for Schmittians around the world to make their plans to attend the events. Listed below are details on the upcoming performances, including links to additional information and to acquire tickets.

(Note: More concerts are likely to be announced in the coming weeks, and this listing will be updated accordingly.)

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September 28, 2024

Schmitt: La Tragédie de Salomé, Op. 50 (1907/10)