GBS Launches 73rd Season Sept. 22

BRIDGEPORT, CT – The Greater Bridgeport Symphony returns for its 73rd season 2018-19 A Season In Space celebrating flight in music on the 50th anniversary of the moon landings. Conductor Eric Jacobsen returns for his 5th season with the GBS beginning September 22, 2018 with the season opener A Space Odyssey Begins at The Klein.
 
"’Galactic’ is a great way to describe this Season in Space," says Eric Jacobsen. “It's like we're going back to the pioneering days of space travel in the 60s. We're journeying way out there to find challenging and beautiful music. The music is as old as Mozart, and as new as a couple of months ago.”  
 
"GBS is thrilled that Eric will be conducting all five concerts this season,” says Mark Halstead, GBS’ Executive Director. “The orchestra just keeps getting better and better under his leadership -- we hear that all the time from concert-goers. The selection of music is, to me, just about as exciting as it was when I was a kid, watching the Apollo flights blast off!"
 
A Space Odyssey Begins opens with “The Star-Spangled Banner” and is followed by the iconic Richard Strauss song from the opening title of the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey“Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30.”  From there, the program shifts to the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart classic “Violin Concerto #5 in A Major, K. 219”, often known by its nickname “The Turkish”, with a performance by violinist Colin Jacobsen. The brother of Eric Jacobsen, Colin will also perform Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending” before finishing up the night’s program with Robert Schumann’s “Symphony No. 4 in D Minor.”
 
Violinist and composer Colin Jacobsen is “one of the most interesting figures on the classical music scene," says the Washington Post. An eclectic composer who draws on a range of influences, he was named one of the top 100 composers under 40 by NPR listeners. He is also active as an Avery Fisher Career Grant-winning soloist and a touring member of Yo-Yo Ma’s famed Silk Road Ensemble. For his work as a founding member of two game-changing, audience-expanding ensembles – the string quartet Brooklyn Rider and orchestra The Knights – Jacobsen was recently selected from among the nation’s top visual, performing, media and literary artists to receive a prestigious and substantial United States Artists Fellowship.
 
The season continues with several exciting shows. “I'm really thrilled that I get to conduct while my brother Colin solos on violin with the ‘Turkish Concerto’ and ‘The Lark Ascending’ in September,” says Eric Jacobsen. “Gil Shaham will be with us in March, and we have one of the world's most incredible pianists in December. We even have some Beatles music, and music infused with speeches by John F. Kennedy!"
 
On Saturday, November 10, 2018, the second show of the season features something as cutting edge as the Apollo program was in 1968 with a 2015 composition by Mason Bates titled “Passage 18,” a musical rendition of the speeches of JFK and others, recalling in vivid detail the excitement of the early space program.  On Saturday, December 8, 2018, GBS has a special present in store for our audience.  A world-famous pianist TBA will join us for an epic night featuring Schumann's “Piano Concerto in A Minor.” The night also features Edvard Greig's “Holberg Suite”and a great selection of holiday favorites to warm the heart.  Claude Debussy's “Clair de lune” gives a bit of moonglow to the evening on this 50th anniversary of Apollo 8's circling of the moon on Christmas Eve, 1968.
 
Then in 2019, the GBS returns Saturday, March 16, 2019 with Johann Strauss' “The Beautiful Blue Danube” to open the show and help us celebrate Spring. The Fairfield County Children's Choir will join us for Antonio Vivaldi'sbeautiful “Gloria” followed by Igor Stravinsky's “The Rite of Spring.” The wonderful season comes to a triumphant close on Saturday, April 13, 2019 with the Lennon-McCartney classic, “Across The Universe” followed by David Bruce's “Fragile Light” featuring Grammy Award-winning violinist Gil Shaham.  Shaham was also named Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year” and is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors.  The night closes with a finale to remember and a celebration of all of the planetswith Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.” Bridgeport’s Harding High School Choir will be there lending their beautiful voices.
 
Tickets are available now by calling the GBS box office at (203) 576-0263. Special discounts are available to families with discounted Family Pack Tickets. A family of five can attend a GBS concert for as little as $55.50.  Parents/guardians get 15% off regular pricing in any seating section at The Klein Memorial Auditorium; young people age 19 and under get their tickets for only $10.00 apiece.  College students with valid student ID 25 and under can get $10.00 rush tickets at the door just before each show.  Group discounts are also available – groups of 20 or more will get 15% off regular ticket prices (fees apply).
 
Ample lighted parking is provided directly across the street from The Klein, located at 910 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport.
 
For tickets or more information, please visit www.GBS.org.  
 
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Submitted by Fairfield, CT

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