Announcing the Reno Phil’s 2023-2024 season of Classix!

We have timeless masterworks anchoring our 55th season – Beethoven 5, Shostakovich 5, and Mahler 5 – and will also introduce you to a brilliant new composition by Reno native, Paul Novak, an alumnus of our Reno Phil Youth Orchestra and the Davidson Institute.  This season is simply full of musical delights; this is just the beginning of what we have in store for you!

Richard STRAUSS: Don Juan
Clara SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto
Ludwig Van BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5

Daniela Liebman
Piano

The Reno Phil celebrates its 55th anniversary season with a blazing crescendo, featuring Beethoven’s immortal Fifth Symphony. The program opens with Strauss’ popular tone-poem, Don Juan, which scandalized and delighted audiences in 1889 because of the music’s graphically suggestive nature. The concert also includes a dazzling performance of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto by twenty-year-old Mexican pianist Daniela Liebman. Known for her eloquence, poise, and nuance, and committed to sharing her love of music to her listeners, the virtuosic passages will sparkle in her hands.

Nkeiru OKOYE: Voices Shouting Out
Jean SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 6
Johannes BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1

Jon Nakamatsu
Piano

He’s back! Audience favorite Jon Nakamatsu returns to Reno to perform the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 – surging with youthful fire, tender passion, and thunderous power. Written when Brahms was only 25 years old, the piano concerto is one of music history’s most monumental and stunning creative achievements. The program opens with a composition from Nigerian composer Nkeiru Okoye, a response to the 911 tragedy. In her words, “It was a march to acknowledge those fighting on our behalf of our safety, and yet a sparkling celebration of life for those who continue living.” Sibelius No. 6 speaks to the soul while evoking the change in seasons due to its interplay with the listener’s senses.

Alberto GINESTERA: Estancia, Four Dances
Joaquín RODRIGO: Fantasia para un Gentilhombre
Manuel de FALLA: Three Cornered Hat

Ramon Tebar
Guest conductor

Rafael Aguirre
Guitar

Grab your passports and travel to Spain for an evening of unforgettable music with the Reno Phil! Spanish conductor Ramon Tebar will lead the orchestra on a musical journey with colorful works by Spanish composers. Multi award-winning Spanish guitarist Rafael Aguirre will join the program for a performance of Rodrigo’s Fantasia para un Gentilhombre, a work of lyrical beauty and virtuosity. Join us for a night you won’t soon forget! Olé!

Paul NOVAK: longing is an aviary World Premiere
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 4
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5

Davidson Fellow Charlotte Marckx
Violin

This program is brimming with youthful talent. Davidson Fellow, Charlotte Marckx, takes center stage as she hypnotizes you into a blissful trance with Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4. Enjoy a world premiere performance composed by our very own Reno Phil Youth Orchestra and Davidson alumni, Paul Novak. Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony will anchor the program – written in 1937 as a defiant act to satisfy Stalin’s regime. The symphony was published with the ironic subtitle, “A Soviet Artist’s Reply to Criticism” and has become loved for is complex beauty and triumphant conclusion.

George GERSHWIN: Strike Up the Band (new critical edition)
Michael DAUGHTERY: Spaghetti Western
George GERSHWIN: An American in Paris (new critical edition)
Maurice RAVEL: Bolero

Jordan Pyle
English Horn

The Reno Phil fans the flame of creative genius. Join us to celebrate the 125th birthday of legendary American composer, George Gershwin! Hear the new critical editions of his beloved works Strike Up the Band and An American in Paris. Our very own Reno Phil English Horn player, Jordan Pyle, will have the spotlight for Daughtery’s Spaghetti Western. You’ll be transported to a land of gunfights, bank robberies, saloon brawls, train heists, ghostly stagecoaches, quests for gold, and revenge and retribution. Ravel’s Bolero, an audience favorite and known from the film Paradise Road, closes the concert with a brief spotlight on every instrument on stage.

Francis POULENC: Gloria
Gustav MAHLER: Symphony No. 5

Reno Phil Chorus
Guest vocalists

The Reno Phil Chorus joins the orchestra for the rousing season finale. Audiences will be delighted by the powerful sound of Poulenc’s Gloria, mixing musical styles with a dizzying, kaleidoscopic effect. The 55th season will close with one of Mahler’s most magnificent works, his Symphony No. 5. From the first trumpet call, to delicate Adagietto, to massive horn anthem, each moment is brimming with emotion.