Taking a look at Music Worcester's 2022-23 season — orchestras, banjos, dance and seats to be filled

WORCESTER — Classical orchestras, chamber music, world-renowned instrumentalists, world music, jazz, folk, opera, dance and ballet, and Music Worcester's own Worcester Chorus.

"It absolutely represents in scope and scale and range of programing the hallmarks of a Music Worcester season," said Music Worcester executive director Adrien C. Finley.

Indeed, he was talking about Music Worcester's 2022-23 season, which gets underway Sept. 16 in Mechanics Hall with The Knights and guest pianist Aaron Diehl. The cutting edge orchestral ensemble from New York City and Diehl will perform a concert that will include Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 3" and George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

Other highlights will likely include Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn (Oct. 28), the Munich Symphony Orchestra (Feb. 17) and the Dance Theatre of Harlem (May 4).

It looks like a fine season and what we would also have perhaps thought of as a normal Music Worcester season, which is to say a pre-pandemic season.

"It could look like back to normal, but it's putting Music Worcester's resources to the best possible use," said Finlay.

Of course 2022-23 follows three seasons that were most certainly affected by the pandemic.

Now, Finlay and Music Worcester will be looking to see how the season progresses.

"I would say you have the full breadth of Music Worcester — classical star recitals, Broadway superstars and banjo superstars," Finlay said.

After the Knights with Aaron Diehl concert, the season continues with Grammy Award-winning violinist Maxim Vengerov  performing a recital with pianist Polina Osetinskaya Oct. 21 in Mechanics Hall, and the "king and queen of banjo," husband and wife Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn at Mechanics Hall Oct. 28.  Also at Mechanics Hall, Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell ("Ragtime," "Kiss Me Kate") will perform Nov. 4. Music Worcester's first educational artist-in-residence (for its 160th anniversary 2018-19 season) pianist Simone Dinnerstein returns Nov. 19 for a recital performance with cellist Alexis Gerlach of Bach's da Gamba Sonatas.

And the Worcester Chorus will continue Worcester's longest-running holiday tradition Dec. 3 with a performance of Handel's "Messiah." Also rapidly becoming a new Worcester holiday tradition, the Worcester Chorus Women's Ensemble led by associate director Mark Mummert returns with their annual holiday choral program at Trinity Lutheran Church on Dec. 18.

Upcoming in 2023, the season features soprano Katherine Dain giving a recital at Clark University on Feb. 12; the Munich Symphony Orchestra Feb. 17 with a program that includes Beethoven's 7th Symphony; Handel and Haydn Society Chamber Orchestra Feb. 18; Chineke! Orchestra from Great Britain March 23 (all in Mechanics Hall); and Dance Theatre of Harlem May 4 in The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts. The Worcester Chorus will also have programs that include "An Afternoon at the Opera" (Feb. 26) and "Duke Ellington's Sacred Concert" (April 28).

Looking back, 2019-20 had begun very well, but what was "a banner season" was "cut short" in March, 2020, Finlay said. Music Worcester "pivoted" and 2020-21 was "largely virtual … It seemed we were doing a lot of work for little return, but that wasn't really true. We kept our patrons engaged." Highlights included violinist Joshua Bell giving a virtual concert from his home.

Music Worcester was able to introduce its first summer season in 2021, Summer@MW, as a means to shift Music Worcester to becoming a year-round performing arts presenter.

But the 2021-22 season began with a lot of uncertainty and the Omicron variant led to the cancellation/postponement of several concerts in the early part of this year.

On Jan. 4, for example, Eric Jacobsen, conductor and co-artistic director of The Knights orchestral ensemble, told a reporter he was looking forward to a January tour with Diehl that would bring them to Mechanics Hall on Jan. 14 for a concert presented by Music Worcester. Two days later, the tour was off. The concert was rescheduled to Sept. 16.

As 2022 progressed a little further, however, there were several successful in-person programs, including a special visit by Itzhak Perlman. And Summer@MW has been back this summer with programing that included trumpet legend Wynton Marsalis. The series concludes with a free, outdoor presentation at Worcester's Cristoforo Colombo Park from 2 to 5 p.m. Aug. 14 featuring Dan Gabel & The Abletones, Nacho Gonzalez Nappa, and Sunta Africa.

"We were putting our own public health safety measures in effect," Finlay said of 2021-22. "We started the season with distanced seats. By the end of the season, masks were optional."

The 2021-22 season also had vaccination requirements. For 2022-23, "the only thing we say now are is masks are optional," Finlay said.

However, "When we think of the last three seasons, I would argue that every cultural sector is forever changed," Finlay said.

The financial effects will be felt for a long time. Finlay is quite clear about how Music Worcester has been able to survive. "Philanthropy saw us through," he said.

"We just feel so thankful that we were able to remain active in the public eye."

All of the 2022-23 season is live, in-person. As things stand, one of the performances, "Messiah" Dec. 3, will also be live-streamed.

"That is an annual hybrid format that we fully expect to keep for many years. In addition to it being such a holiday tradition and therefore supporters enjoying watching it not just on the night of performance but also re-watching later in December, the Worcester Chorus members' own connections across the country make it viable — friends and family tuning in from all over," Finlay said.

As for other concerts also being live-streamed as well as in-person, "We absolutely will consider the hybrid format for other events on a case-by-case basis going forward, as we have the technology (cameras, ticketing system, etc.) to do so," he said.

Music Worcester is the umbrella organization of three merged components: the Worcester Music Festival, the International Artists Series and the Massachusetts Jazz Festival. It dates its origins back to 1858 when a music convention was held in the new Mechanics Hall.

The 10th anniversary of Finlay serving as executive director of Music Worcester was Aug. 1, and there will be additional events and concerts to be announced as part of the organization's celebration of his tenure during 2022-23.

Meanwhile, violinist Vijay Gupta, who is an advocate for social justice as well as a MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient, will be Music Worcester's second educational artist in residence over the course of the calendar year 2023, Finlay said. Gupta will perform as well as work with local students during his residency.  

The Sept. 16 start to Music Worcester's 2022-23 season is "much earlier than we are used to," Finlay said (the season usually begins in October), but was brought about by the availability of the The Knights and Aaron Diehl.

"We've been wanting to have The Knights in for a number of years," Finlay said.

"Such high level of artistry. They are fully engaged with this notion of what does it mean to be a musician in this place or time. Genres matter little to them. They are musicians and they are worth hearing. The artistry will be at an all time high."

Maxim Vengerov, a Russian-born Israeli violinist, violist and conductor, will be playing in Carnegie Hall the day after his Oct. 21 Mechanics Hall appearance. The program includes Beethoven Sonata No 9 “Kreutzer.”

"He plays the same program at Carnegie Hall," Finlay noted. "It is quite exciting to be in the same conversation as Carnegie Hall."

Speaking of Carnegie Hall, the Worcester Chorus will be there Oct. 2.

In 2019, the Worcester Chorus, the Masterwork Chorus from New Jersey and the Worcester Festival Orchestra were conducted by Chris Shepard in a performance of Verdi's "Requiem" that was in celebration and appreciation of Shepard’s 10 years as director and conductor of the Worcester Chorus. Shepard is  also the director of the Masterwork Chorus, and a repeat "Requiem" was originally scheduled for 2020 in Carnegie Hall until it was postponed by the pandemic. The Oct. 2 performance in Carnegie Hall will make amends with the Masterwork Chorus, Worcester Chorus and orchestra. "There will be some of the same soloists, and Chris Shepard leading the combined choruses in the same piece," Finlay said (the concert is not officially part of Music Worcester's 2022-23 season).

And speaking of cancellations and postponements, Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn "win for the number of rescheduled concerts," Finlay said of the husband and wife finally coming to Mechanics Hall Oct. 28.

"We've had Béla Fleck a number of times, now we're going to have him with his wife," Finlay said. Fleck has explored a range of music, from bluegrass and folk roots to jazz, classical, rock and various world music genres. Washburn is an accomplished singer-songwriter and banjo player. Fleck & Washburn will perform pieces from their Grammy-winning self-titled debut as well as their new record, "Echo in the Valley."

The performance by Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nov. 4, will "continue our practice of welcoming Broadway superstars," Finlay said. Mitchell and Audra McDonald were in the same production of "Ragtime," Finlay said. McDonald opened Music Worcester's 2019 season.

"That was only three years ago. It seems like a lifetime," Finlay said.

The 2022-23 Music Worcester season will be quiet in January 2022 — by design rather than cancellations caused by a new pandemic variant.

"We have decided for a number of reasons to take January off," Finlay said. 

"We wonder where the pandemic will be. We will take a bit of a pause. Take the temperature of the proverbial room." 

But come Feb. 12, "we're right back in it," with Katherine Dain on Feb. 12,  the Munich Symphony Orchestra Feb. 17 and Handel and Haydn Society Chamber Orchestra  Feb. 18.

Chineke! Orchestra March 23 is another ensemble that had been previously scheduled to appear but then had its concert postponed. It is the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority Black, Asian and ethnically diverse musicians.

"We can't wait to finally have them," Finlay said. Orchestra members will be working with the Worcester Youth Orchestras during their visit.

The Dance Theatre of Harlem May 4 program will include a new work, "Sounds of Hazel," celebrating the life and legacy of jazz legend Hazel Scott.

Music Worcester is one of six co-commissioners of the work. "One of our pandemic decisions was to engage more regularly in commissions," Finlay said.

Music Worcester has never been part of such a group of co-commissioners for "Sounds of Hazel."

"It puts us in the conversation to get in a creative space in a different way," Finlay said.

But with the 2022-23 season in place, "What keeps me up right now is attendance figures," Finlay acknowledged.

With regard to a different kind of conversation, "More and more I'm hearing from my colleagues we've been out of practice attending live events. We all have to re-learn attending. Whatever we think of the programming mix, we should not assume that pre-pandemic and post-pandemic will be the same."

Finley feels "It is going to be several years of attendance at best before figures reach pre-pandemic levels …

"We continue to see audience and ticket user hesitancy. We all are out of the habit of attending concerts the way we used to. The headlines, just life in general, is changing at such a pace. Every week  you can wake up to a new headline," he said. 

"This is who we are, this is what we do," Finlay said of 2022-23. "We're so hoping that as the season progresses, we're so hopeful our audiences will come back to support us."

For more information and tickets, visit www.musicworcester.org.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Taking a look at Music Worcester's 2022-23 season — orchestras, banjos, dance