2021-2022 Masterworks Series subscriptions on sale now!

HARTFORD, CT (August 3, 2021) – Subscriptions are now on sale for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s 2021-2022 Masterworks Series, which will be presented at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, CT. Concerts will take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm in the Belding Theater. The Masterworks Series is sponsored by the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation and The Elizabeth M. and Harriette M. Landon Foundation.

Subscriptions are available for 6 concerts and 9 concerts.

The HSO returns to the Belding Theater with the safety and well-being of patrons, musicians, and staff a top priority. As has been done since March 2020, regulations set by the State of Connecticut and recommended by the CDC will be followed. Health protocols will be updated before the season begins.

Ticket Information: To purchase subscriptions, please call 860-244-2999, email tickets@hartfordsymphony.org, or visit www.hartfordsymphony.org.

All artists, dates, and locations are subject to change.

HARTFORD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2021-2022 MASTERWORKS SERIES

“Praised as the ‘Greatest. Music. Ever.’, the 7th is my favorite Beethoven Symphony – pure joy and thrill.Interactive symphonic experience is the new rising star of classical music.Join composer Clarice Assad to explore her engaging É Gol!, inspired by female Brazilian soccer player Marta Vieira da Silva.And to reunite all of us, what could be better than the touching and dramatic William TellOverture with its beloved ‘Dawn,’ ‘Call to the Cows,’ and finale, also widely-known as the theme to The Lone Ranger!” – Carolyn Kuan

“From ‘If He’d Be a Buckaroo’ to ‘Hoedown’ featured in the ‘Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.’ campaign, Copland’s American West Four Dance Episodesis fun, comfortable and always makes me smile inside and out.Grammy-winning composer Laura Karpman’s exhilarating All American, inspired by music of American women composers, is the perfect encore to Bernstein’s passionate and iconic West Side Story.And did you know the legendary trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is also a fantastic composer?Come explore with us his jazz-infused Violin Concerto that is fresh, unique and sophisticated.” – Carolyn Kuan

“I fell in love with The Nutcrackeras a child and almost came to the US at age 8 to pursue a career as a ballerina.One of Tchaikovsky’s most breathtaking musical moments that symphonic audiences rarely get to hear is in the Act I Finale –that purely magical moment when the clock strikes twelve, and the toys come alive. Grieg’s romantic Piano Concerto featuresone of the most famous openings in classical music.His music from Peer Gynt, including the famous ‘Morning Mood’ and ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King,’ captures various adventuresfrom the Norwegian mountains to the North African desert.” – Carolyn Kuan

Concert Sponsor: Cly-Del

“We celebrate the new year with music and artists I have long admired and loved. Piano Concerto in One Movement is composed by Florence Price, who, in 1933, became the first Black woman to have her music performed by a major orchestra. Darker Americaby Black composer William Grant Still was a response to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Still treats the blues to a thorough symphonic development in order to chart a triumphant course representative of the African American experience. Dvo?ák’s love of spirituals can be heard in his music, especially in the Largomovement of his Symphony No.9, which inspired ‘Goin’ Home.’” – Carolyn Kuan

Concert Sponsor: Saunders Fund for Innovative Programming

“There is a picture of me in college dressed as the risqué gypsy Carmen.Bizet’s music is simply irresistible with Carmen’s sultry melodies and the passion and bravado of bullfighters.To celebrate love, we juxtapose the Russian prince and princesses in Stravinsky’s glorious and magnificent Firebirdwith my favorite Chinese love story, The Butterfly Lovers, our Chinese Romeo and Juliet. We are thrilled to welcome back violinist Sirena Huang to the HSO to share this 1,000-year-old legend, which journeys from the joyful pentatonic youthful friendship to the final scene of two lovers turning into butterflies to be together forever.” – Carolyn Kuan Sponsor: The Alexander Campbell McNally and Tina Mahar McNally Memorial Concert

“I’ll never forget the comfort I found in Tchaikovsky’s Fifth as an emotional and artistic teenager.It understands loss and struggles, but also gentleness, desire, courage, hope and light.With ever more melodies, it is a symphony that belongs to all of us who strive, and it still always fills me with joy and optimism.This will be the first time I share this very special and private symphony with our HSO audience.Our night of indulgence will also include Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Loved by virtuosic pianists, it is one of the most technically demanding, and most electrifying, of all Romantic concertos. Its raw emotional power intensified the Oscar-winning film Shine.” – Carolyn Kuan

Concert Sponsor: The Koski Memorial Concert

“As an immigrant, it is always a joy to share the diversity of the world’s music with our audience.Beatles guitarist George Harrison collaborated closely with Ravi Shankar, and called him ‘the godfather of world music.’Shankar’s enchanting Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra is a lush blend of Indian and Western classical music. I have always admired strong women, like Scheherazade in Rimsky-Korsakov’s masterpiece. Her bravery and 1,001 tales changed her life and the lives of all those around her. This music is dramatic, evocative, thrilling and wistful – qualities that speak to me in a very personal way.” – Carolyn Kuan

Glass Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, “Choral”

“We conclude the 2021-2022 season with our most delicious desserts and a true ‘Ode to Joy’ – Beethoven’s magnificent Symphony No. 9.Inspired by the ideals of freedom and equality, it is, for me, the most influential work in classical music and a celebration of humanity and togetherness.And when was the last time you heard a concerto for saxophone?We will raise the roof with not one, but four saxophones!Hip, brilliant and charismatic, the Hartford-based Resurgam Quartet takes us on a mesmerizing journey with Philip Glass’ jazzy and soulful Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra.” – Carolyn Kuan

HSO programs are funded part by the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and with support from the Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.