The 2017/2018 Seattle Symphony subscription season at a glance

Raymond Chen

For many years, I’ve put together a little pocket guide to the Seattle Symphony subscription season for my symphony friends to help them decide which ticket package they want. For the past several years now, we haven’t ordered any series tickets at all because we all have young children, but I still make this guide out of some sense of obligation.

So here’s the at-a-glance season guide for the 2017/2018 season anyway, again with no comments from me because nobody I know is going to use them to decide which tickets to order. (Well, sometimes we get a single concert, but it’s not worth trying to rate every piece to pick one concert. If you’re my friend and want recommendations for a single concert in March, just call me.) Besides, you can probably preview nearly all of the pieces nowadays (minus the premieres) by searching on YouTube.

Here is the official brochure for those who want to read the details, and the press release for the breathless prose.

Here’s what The Seattle Times thinks of it.

Week Program 22 13 7A
7B
8C
8D
7E
7F
8G 5H SU BW
09/21 Mahler: Symphony #2 “Resurrection”                  
10/05
2017
Brahms: Tragic Overture
Bartók: Piano Concerto #1
Elgar: Enigma Variations
             
 
 
 
 
10/12
2017
Mendelssohn: Sinfonia #10
Schumann: Violin Concerto
Mendelssohn: Symphony #4 “Italian”
                 
10/20
2017
Avison: Concerto Grosso #3 in d “after Scalatti”
Vivaldi: “Cessate, omai cessate
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
                 
10/26
2017
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto #3
Shostakovich: Symphony #10
                 
11/02
2017
Berlioz: Le nuits d’été
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
                 
11/09 Berlioz: Requiem                  
11/30
2017
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto #3
Franck: Symphony in d
                 
01/04
2018
Stravinsky: Funeral Song
Ligeti: Violin Concerto
Mozart: Symphony #39
                 
01/25
2018
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn
Brahms: Hungarian Dances #1, 3 and 10
Brahms: Liebeslieder Waltzes
Brahms: Symphony #2
             
 
 
 
 
 
02/01
2018
Boulanger: D’un matin de printemps
Elgar: Violin Concerto
Rachmaninov: Symphony #3
                 
02/08
2018
David Lang: symphony without a hero
R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
                 
02/23
2018
J.C. Bach: Sinfonia in g
Vivaldi: Concerto for Violin in D
Vivaldi: Gloria
                 
03/01
2018
Haydn: Symphony #49 “La passione
Mozart: Violin Concerto #3
Arvo Pärt: Fratres
Schubert: Symphony #8 “Unfinished”
                 
03/15
2018
Villa-Lobos: Quintet in the form of a chôros
De Falla: The Three-Cornered Hat
Orff: Carmina burana
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
03/22
2018
Sibelius: The Oceanides
Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Sibelius: Symphony #2
                 
03/29
2018
Beethoven: Piano Concerto #5 “Emperor”
John Luther Adams: Become Desert
                 
04/19
2018
Ibert: Escales
Scriabin: Piano Concerto
Respighi: Fountains of Rome
Debussy: La mer
             
 
 
 
 
 
04/26
2018
Stravinsky: Song of the Volga Boatmen
Stravinsky: Concerto for Piano and Wind Instr.
Stravinsky: Les noces
Stravinsky: Persephone
                 
05/04
2018
Handel: Agrippina Overture
Vivaldi and Handel: Arias and duets
Mozart: Violin Concerto #5 “Turkish”
Mozart: “Ch’io mi scordi di te?”
Handel: Concerto Grosso Op 5 #6
Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D “Il grosso mogul”
         
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
05/17
2018
Dvořák: The Wild Dove
Haydn: Cell Concerto in D
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet Suite #2
                 
05/31 Sibelius: Kullervo                  
06/14
2018
Alexandra Gardner: New Work†
Bernstein: Prelude, Fugue and Riffs
Bernstein: Wonderful Town
                 
06/21
2018
Bernstein: Candide Overture
Andrew Norman: Cello Concerto†
Copland: Symphony #3
             
 
 
 
 
06/28
2018
Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre
Chopin: Piano Concerto #2
Saint-Saëns: Symphony #3 “Organ”
                 
Week Program 22 13 7A
7B
7C
8D
7E
7F
8G 5H SU BW

function filter(c) { var rows = document.getElementById(“schedule”).getElementsByTagName(“TR”); for (var i = 0; i != rows.length; i++) { var row = rows[i]; var className = row.className; if (className != “”) { if (c == ‘all’ || className.indexOf(c) != -1) { row.style.display = “”; } else { row.style.display = “none”; } } } } (function(){ var headers = document.getElementById(“schedule”).getElementsByTagName(“TH”); for (var i = 0; i != headers.length; i++) { (function(attr){ headers[i].onclick = function(){filter(attr);}; })(headers[i].className); } })();

† World Premiere.

Insider tip: Click a column header to focus on a specific series. (This feature has been around for several years, actually.)

Legend:

22 Masterworks 22-concert series (Choice of Thursdays or Saturdays)
13 Masterworks 13-concert series (Choice of Thursdays or Saturdays)
7A Masterworks 7-concert series A (Thursdays)
7B Masterworks 7-concert series B (Saturdays)
8C Masterworks 8-concert series C (Thursdays)
8D Masterworks 8-concert series D (Saturdays)
7E Masterworks 7-concert series E (Thursdays)
7F Masterworks 7-concert series F (Saturdays)
8G Masterworks 8-concert series G (Sunday afternoons)
5H Masterworks 5-concert series H (Friday afternoons)
SU Untuxed (Fridays, reduced program)
BW Baroque and Wine (Choice of Fridays or Saturdays)

For the weekend of May 17, the concert normally scheduled for Saturday evening will be held on Sunday afternoon.

For those not familiar with the Seattle Symphony ticket package line-ups: Most of the ticket packages are named Masterworks nX where n is the number is the number of concerts in the package, and the letter indicates the variation. Ticket packages have been combined if they are identical save for the day of the week. For example, 8C and 8D are the same concerts; the only difference is that 8C is for Thursday nights, while 8D is for Saturday nights.

This chart doesn’t include concert series such as the Distinguished Artists series which share no concerts with any of the Masterworks concerts.

Notes and changes:

  • The 7[AB], 8[CD], and 7[EF] concert series do not overlap, so you can create your own pseudo-series by taking any two of them, or recreate the 22-concert series by taking all three.
  • The 13-concert series is the same as the 8[CD] and 7[EF] series combined, minus the November 30 and June 21 concerts.
  • The Symphony Untuxed series was renamed to simply Untuxed.
  • The New Year’s Eve concert/party traditionally features Beethoven’s Symphony #9, but this year, they’re trying something different: Tony DeSare performs popular songs from the 20th century, as well as Rhapsody in Blue.
  • There are always one-off concerts scattered through the year. Here are some highlights:
    • A two-concert Prokofiev Concerto Festival encompasses the first three piano concertos, both violin concertos, and (just for kicks) the first symphony.
    • A John Williams Conducts Williams concert, wherein the composer-conductor leads the symphony in performances of music from movies he has scored.
    • Don’t worry, Beethoven fans. You’ll still get your Ninth Symphony: It’ll be performed on the last weekend of the year. Not quite New Year’s Eve, but close.

0 comments

Discussion is closed.

Feedback usabilla icon