The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County Announces
2022-2023 KNIGHT MASTERWORKS SEASON –
CLASSICAL MUSIC SERIES
Featuring Two of the World’s Great Orchestras and
Stellar Musicians from across the Globe
ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Lahav Shani, music director
November 10, 2022
ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER & MUTTER VIRTUOSI
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin & leader
February 1, 2023
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA WITH GIL SHAHAM
Nathalie Stutzmann, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
February 15, 2023
WEST-EASTERN DIVAN ENSEMBLE
Michael Barenboim, concertmaster
March 4, 2023
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (@arshtcenter) is proud to announce the2022-2023 KNIGHT MASTERWORKS SEASON CLASSICAL MUSIC SERIES – an extraordinary lineup of some of the greatest orchestras and musicians of our time.
The four anticipated evenings of classical music in the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall are as follows:
- ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA returns to Miami led by Lahav Shani, the 33-year-old wunderkind and protégé of retired legendary conductor Zubin Mehta. The concert will mark Shani’s Arsht Center debut.
- ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER and her group of young violin virtuosi make their Arsht Center debut with a program that will include contemporary works and beloved favorites.
- THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA, led by Principal Guest Conductor Nathalie Stutzmann, who will take the helm at the Atlanta Symphony with the 2022–23 season as only the second female music director of a top American orchestra. Superstar virtuoso Gil Shaham joins Stutzmann and the orchestra.
- WEST-EASTERN DIVAN ENSEMBLE marries artistic excellence and global harmony in this intimate musical experience. The orchestra is led by its concertmaster, Michael Barenboim.
“This new season highlights big orchestras with bold new conductors, glorious violin virtuosos and the synergistic magic of ensemble performance,” said Liz Wallace, vice president of programming at the Arsht Center.
“Performing art centers serve communities by providing accessibility to a rich diversity of local and out-of-town performing artists. Whether it’s the chance to be a part of creating art in a community sing, or to be in the audience for amazing performances, the programming of the Adrienne Arsht Center recognizes the power of the arts to connect us to each other and to place” said Victoria Rogers, Knight Foundation’s vice president of arts. “Season after season, Knight Masterworks showcases the music that has stood the test of time, and the artistry of those that continue to bring it to life”.
CLASSICAL CONVERSATIONS
To complete the musical experience, Miami-based classical music experts will offer free pre-concert lectures in the Arsht Center’s Peacock Foundation Education Center (inside the Knight Concert Hall) prior to every concert in the series.
TICKETS
Subscriptions for the four-concert KNIGHT MASTERWORKS CLASSICAL MUSIC SERIES are on sale now. Early bird pricing is $174 – $535* through May 9 for the four concerts. After May 10, subscriptions range from $190-$595.
Subscriptions can be purchased or renewed at arshtcenter.org/classical or by phone at (305) 949-6722. Payment plans for subscriptions are available.
The 2022-2023 KNIGHT MASTERWORKS CLASSICAL MUSIC SERIES is funded with leadership support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, with additional support from Steinway Piano Gallery of Miami; Caring Friends Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Co-Trustee; and Funding Arts Network.
CONCERT INFORMATION:
ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Lahav Shani, music director
November 10, 2022, at 8 p.m.
“It scarcely seems possible to have a greater beauty of sound and joy in performance than that offered by Lahav Shani.” – Berliner Morgenpost
Since its founding 85 years ago, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) (@Israel_Philharmonic) has been associated with some of the greatest names in classical music. Its first concert, held December 26, 1936 in Tel Aviv, was conducted by Italy’s Arturo Toscanini, who at the time was one of the world’s most famous musicians. Iconic American conductor Leonard Bernstein first led the orchestra in November 1948 and continued to perform with it throughout his life. In 1977, acclaimed Indian-born conductor Zubin Mehta became the IPO’s music director and held the position until his retirement in 2019. Glenn Gould, Kurt Masor, Gil Shaham and Plácido Domingo are among the other star musicians to have performed with the orchestra. Considered a principal cultural ambassador for Israel, the orchestra travels the world to play festivals and concert halls.
Today, the IPO is led by Lahav Shani, a 33-year-old, Tel Aviv-born pianist who has played and conducted with symphonies across the globe, including the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, where he is chief conductor. Shani was appointed IPO’s music director in 2020 and will make his Florida debut this season.
ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER & MUTTER VIRTUOSI
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin & leader
February 1, 2023, at 8 p.m.
“One of today’s most incisive and glamorous violinists…she has built a substantial career juxtaposing fresh interpretations of the classics with edgy new music.” -ArtsATL
Anne-Sophie Mutter (@anne_sophie_mutter) made her recording debut in 1978, when the then 15-year-old violinist joined Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic on Mozart’s Violin Concerti Nos. 3 and 5. Many albums, numerous awards and countless standing ovations later, the German-born Mutter is among the most admired and in-demand musicians on the planet. A fierce advocate for the future of classical music, Mutter has premiered nearly 30 works by modern composers such as John Williams, André Previn and Unsuk Chin. Claiming her favorite composer is “everyone I play,” Mutter is recognized as a master interpreter of Bach, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Bartók and so many others.
At the Arsht Center, she will appear with the Mutter Virtuosi, an ensemble of young soloists that includes current and former scholarship recipients of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, which commissions works for emerging musicians to perform on tour. Her Arsht Center recital will feature beloved classics, such as Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, op. 8 as well as a recently discovered work by the French Black composer, violinist and conductor Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
Nathalie Stutzmann, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
February 15, 2023, at 8 p.m.
Shaham “is in the highest echelon of American violinists” – The Washington Post
The Philadelphia Orchestra (@philorch) has made history many times over since its formation in 1900. It was the first orchestra to capture its music in an electrical recording, the first orchestra to perform on national television and the first American orchestra to perform in China. It recorded the soundtrack to Disney’s groundbreaking animated film Fantasia, and it has presented American and world premieres by composers such as Mahler, Berg, Shostakovich, Jennifer Higdon, and Wynton Marsalis.
When the orchestra returns to the Arsht Center in February 2023, it will be in the company of another history maker: principal guest conductor Nathalie Stutzmann, who recently was named the new music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, making her only the second woman to lead a top American orchestra. The French-born Stutzmann is currently in her first year guest-conducting with The Philadelphia Orchestra. In Miami, she’ll be joined onstage by Gil Shaham, the widely acclaimed American violinist whose previous appearances at the Arsht Center include performances with The Cleveland Orchestra and New World Symphony.
WEST-EASTERN DIVAN ENSEMBLE
Michael Barenboim, concertmaster
March 4, 2023 at 8 p.m.
“An extraordinary concert…. all of the members of the audience didn’t just leap to their feet but also cheered as if swept off them.” – Los Angeles Times
The West-Eastern Divan Ensemble is the chamber-size spinoff of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (@divanorchestra), a groundbreaking project founded in 1999 by Edward Said, the late Palestinian American writer and musician, and Daniel Barenboim, the acclaimed Israeli conductor and pianist. Grouping together Arab and Israeli musicians in an effort to promote peace and understanding, the orchestra crosses political, cultural and geographical boundaries while performing works by classical giants at concert venues worldwide. The Divan Ensemble features members of the orchestra and is led by its concertmaster, Michael Barenboim, son of Daniel Barenboim.
The ensemble’s first American tour took place in February and March 2020 and included a performance at the Arsht Center. Returning to Miami again, the ensemble continues the humanistic mission of its larger counterpart, while offering audiences an opportunity to enjoy intimate works by classical music’s greatest composers.
Programs for each evening will be announced at a later date.