Music

MTT leads Viola Visions’ renowned guest artists in performances of chamber works that showcase the viola. Nadia Sirota performs Keep in Touch, a lamentation for solo viola and pre-recorded CD written for her by Nico Muhly, who will conduct. George Benjamin’s Viola, Viola is a mesmerizing dance and fierce dialogue between Tabea Zimmermann and Matthew Lipman. The explosive Chemins II by Luciano Berio is a reimagining of his famed Sequenzas with Jonathan Vinocour at the helm.

Viola Visions officially commences with this welcome concert featuring viola-centric works spanning more than 300 years of repertoire. MTT leads Cynthia Phelps (New York Philharmonic), Jonathan Vinocour (San Francisco Symphony) and Tabea Zimmermann in J.S. Bach’s final Brandenburg Concerto and the virtuosic variations of “Les folies d’Espagne” arranged by Irish-born violist Garth Knox. Inspired by a racing video game, Andrew Norman’s Gran Turismo has eight violists locked in a highspeed chase. 

Consummate musician Jeffrey Kahane joins Fellows for the first chamber concert of season. He will perform double duty by leading his own performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 with chamber orchestra. Also featuring piano are two duets: a merry, ragtime-esque jaunt by Emmanuel Chabrier and Claude Debussy’s end-of-life meditation. When hearing news of a family member’s death, Missy Mazzoli incorporated a “pile of melodies collapsing in a chaotic free fall” in her Still Life with Avalanche.

Percussionists of the Magic City unite! NWS Percussion Fellows are joined by students from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music for a one-night-only adventure. Together they will perform the world premiere of the Percussion Symphony No. 2 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Charles Wuorinen, who will be in attendance. Hailed by The New Yorker as “the most original musical thinker of our time,” Steve Reich permeates his Sextet with a humming, propulsive energy.

Brazilian Voices, the South Florida-based, highly awarded vocal group noted for its musical excellence in Jazz, Bossa Nova, Samba and Pop, returns to Aventura to present Amazonas. A special selection of works highlighting the group's noted strengths: powerful interpretation, rich harmonies and a passionate approach. There is a delightful fluidity and warmth to their singing in a poetic tribute to the rain forest.

An exciting mix of glamour, class and goose-bumps-inducing vocals honoring the iconic hits of the biggest Divas! Celebrating four decades of iconic Diva hits, DIVAS3 showcases three female singers with powerhouse voices performing the biggest hits of the greatest Divas in music history. This vibrant show features hits from the 60s through the 90s with classics by Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Cher, Dolly Parton, Donna Summer and many, many more! As a trio, they are incredible, as soloists, they have all starred in shows on the Las Vegas Strip.

From Australia to Hollywood, Andrew Bain has taken the world by storm as Principal Horn of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and soloist on the latest Star Wars soundtracks. In his NWS debut and the final chamber music concert of the season, Bain joins NWS Fellows for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s delightful Quintet for horn and strings and a horn quartet by Russian master Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Inspired by the echoing gorges and towering rock formations of U.S. national parks, Oliver Messiaen created a showstopping, atmospheric wonder in his Interstellar call for solo horn. Russians Nikolai Kapustin and Sergei Prokofiev embrace other cultures in their stunning works for mixed wind and string ensembles.

The Side-by-Side Concert is an extraordinary opportunity for young instrumentalists (grades 7-12) to perform alongside the New World Symphony Fellows. The students share the New World Center’s stage and develop musical relationships with the Fellows as they rehearse and perform music of the highest caliber. The students have been selected through auditions from different schools and organizations, including students from Medellín, Colombia.

Dazzling pianist Joyce Yang takes the New World Center stage for the first time to perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Second Concerto. The work combines the best of all Classical worlds—Beethoven’s charm and surprises inspired by Haydn and Mozart. It took Witold Lutosławski four years to write his Concerto for Orchestra, a virtuosic showpiece for the entire ensemble led by Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vänskä. Embracing nostalgia for his hometown, Zoltán Kodály encapsulated Hungarian folk traditions and gypsy influences in Dances of Galánta, culminating in a dizzying finale.