January 27, 2020
by Mark Lowry
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Dallas — Programming for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra‘s Sixth Annual Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family Soluna International Music & Arts Festival has been announced. The lineup includes a world premiere from compuser Du Yun and area premieres of works by Missy Mazzoli and Julia Wolfe, as well as collaborations with the Oklahoma art-rock band Flaming Lips and Kronos Quartet. Additionally, Fabio Luisi will conduct the Dallas premiere of Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals.
Below is the complete news release:
Dallas, TX (January 27, 2020) – The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is pleased to announce programming for the 2020 Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family SOLUNA International Music & Arts Festival. Opening on April 3 and running through April 21, 2020, the festival will take place at venues in the Dallas Arts District and throughout the city. Tickets for all SOLUNA events go on sale January 30, 2020, at mydso.com/SOLUNA.
Now in its sixth season, SOLUNA will present collaborative and immersive works throughout the city of Dallas. Central to this year’s festival is music by leading contemporary composers including Pulitzer Prize-winners Du Yun and DSO Composer-in-Residence Julia Wolfe, GRAMMY® and Emmy Award-winner James Newton Howard, and Missy Mazzoli, one of the first two women to be commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. Continuing the tradition established at SOLUNA’s inception, this year’s festival includes many new works, including three Texas premieres and two world premieres.
As part of the festival, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will present three weekends of concerts, two of them under the leadership of Music Director Designate Fabio Luisi, and will open the sixth festival with the rarely performed oratorio The Book with Seven Seals.
The ever-evolving psychedelic-rock band The Flaming Lips will join the DSO at this year’s festival. The legendary GRAMMY® Award-winning band will perform the entirety of their classic 1999 The Soft Bulletin album with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and members of the Dallas Symphony Chorus. Their newest album, The Soft Bulletin Recorded Live at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, was released in November 2019. Their Dallas performance will be a kaleidoscopic, one-night-only musical experience. This performance is generously sponsored by Capital One.
“Capital One believes in fostering a vibrant arts culture in Dallas, as it’s key to driving creativity and innovation. The DSO has been an amazing partner on this journey,” said Sanjiv Yajnik, President of
Capital One Financial Services and Chairman of the Dallas Symphony Board of Governors. “The DSO has reimagined what a symphony can be, and performances like these are just one way they are shattering perceptions and broadening their reach.”
“SOLUNA is about experiencing music in new ways,” said Kim Noltemy, Ross Perot President & CEO of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. “This edition of the festival brings the most vibrant voices in contemporary music to North Texas resulting in performances that can be found nowhere else.”
“I am excited for you to hear works by some of the most important living artists and composers who are helping to shape the future of classical music.” said Gillian Friedman Fox, Director of Contemporary & SOLUNA Programs. “By showcasing important, compelling and challenging performances by artists at all stages of their careers, we are showing how classical music continues to be relevant and enrich our lives in new and exciting ways.”
In 2019, SOLUNA celebrated its fifth anniversary. Highlights of the past five festivals include Jennifer Hudson in concert with the DSO in 2019; St. Vincent’s orchestral debut in 2015; the world premiere collaborative performance piece Rules Of The Game with choreography by Jonah Bokaer, set design by Daniel Arsham and an original score by Pharrell Williams with David Campbell in 2016; and Traveling Lady starring Rossy de Palma, performed for the first time in Texas in 2017. 2019 featured the world premiere of GRAMMY® winner and Oscar nominated-composer Terence Blanchard’s Caravan: A Revolution on the Road. This collaboration brought together live musical performance by Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective, choreography and dance by Rennie Harris and his company and Andrew F. Scott’s visual projections, sculpture and projection mapping and reflected the life experiences of each artist and their thoughts and feelings about Black Lives in the 21st century.
2020 PREMIERES AND NEW PRODUCTIONS
WINDOWS TO YUSHU – DU YUN
Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas
FRI | APR 3 | 8PM
Due to its unique geography and centuries of social strife, the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has become one of the most isolated areas of the world. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun explores the lasting effects on the children who have grown up in this secluded corner of the world that has changed little in hundreds of years. In collaboration with director Julian Crouch, the performance will include new music featuring the composer’s band, OK Miss, to demonstrate the director’s design concepts and feature clips from an upcoming documentary film on the project. The performance will be followed by an artist talk with Du Yun and Julian Crouch about their travels and research thus far.
About the Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family SOLUNA International Music & Arts Festival
The Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family SOLUNA International Music & Arts Festival showcases internationally-acclaimed guest soloists, visual artists and performing artists alongside leading Dallas-based companies and ensembles. An annual, multi-week interdisciplinary event, SOLUNA stages performances and exhibitions at venues, prominent galleries and performance spaces throughout the Dallas Arts District and beyond. SOLUNA aims to steward authentic collaborations within the Dallas Arts District and serve as a magnet for artists and performers around the world. By incorporating strong educational and science components, audiences are invited to experience music and art and interact with their Dallas community in new and exciting ways.
About the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, under the leadership of Music Director Designate Fabio Luisi, presents the finest in orchestral music at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, regarded as one of the world’s premier concert halls. As the largest performing arts organization in the Southwest, the DSO is committed to inspiring the broadest possible audience with distinctive classical programs, inventive pops concerts and innovative multi-media presentations. In fulfilling its commitment to the community, the orchestra reaches more than 234,000 adults and children through performances, educational programs and community outreach initiatives annually. The DSO’s involvement with the City of Dallas and the surrounding region includes an award-winning multi-faceted educational program, community projects, popular parks concerts and youth programming.
The DSO has a tradition dating back to 1900 and is a cornerstone of the unique, 68-acre Arts District in Downtown Dallas that is home to multiple performing arts venues, museums and parks; the largest district of its kind in the nation. The DSO is supported, in part, by funds from the Office of Cultural Affairs, City of Dallas.
