On Wednesday, June 9, 2021, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) and Toledo Ballet, together as the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced its 2021/2022 performance season. Subscriptions are now available for purchase by calling the TAPA Box Office at 419.246.8000. Single tickets will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 2. For a full listing of events, visit toledosymphony.com or toledoballet.com.
The Toledo Symphony celebrates its 78th season and Alain Trudel’s 4th season as Music Director. “This new season reflects more than ever our dedication to both the diversity and tradition of our art form,” says Trudel. “You’ll hear and see performances that honor our past and celebrate the here and now, including works by landmark composers like Bach, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Handel, Rachmaninoff, Strauss, as well as rediscovering relevant American composers. I am extremely proud of the programming we have set for our 2021/2022 season and look forward to sharing it with our community. And, speaking personally, I can’t wait to see you (face to face) in Toledo this September!”
The theme for the 2021/2022 season is Face the Music. “This theme has a number of underlying meanings,” says Vanessa Gardner, Director of Marketing & Communications for TAPA. “It’s the faces we haven’t seen because we haven’t been able to get together, and when we have, our faces have been behind masks. It’s the faces of the diverse guest artists and composers. And, importantly, we ‘face the music’ in terms of asking ourselves ‘how do the performing arts help to serve our community and become a vehicle for social change?’”
The Toledo Ballet celebrates its 82nd season and Lisa Mayer-Lang's 15th season as Artistic Director. “Art, in all forms, is so important to the human experience,” says Mayer-Lang. “We are naturally oriented toward art. It mends the hearts, challenges boundaries, and provokes responses. Together with the Toledo Symphony, we present an incredibly versatile season full of performances that do just that. We are especially excited to welcome audiences back to the Stranahan Theater in person this December for our 81st production of The Nutcracker. We were grateful to have presented this iconic holiday tradition virtually last year and look forward to inviting audiences back in person this year.”
“We just completed an incredibly unusual season,” says Zak Vassar, TAPA’s President & CEO. “We were so fortunate to continue performing despite the significant COVID challenges that surrounded us. This brought us close to our community at a time when people needed beautiful music and dance more than ever. While I’m hopeful that our 2021/2022 season will feel more ‘typical’ for our audience, we’ve created contingency plans in case we need to make adjustments.”
Among the 2021/2022 Highlights:
- Grammy Award and 2017 MacArthur “genius” winner Rhiannon Giddens joins the TSO to perform music from her critically acclaimed albums and more.
- The return of Handel’s Messiah at Rosary Cathedral.
- Toledo Ballet’s 81st presentation of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
- The Canadian Brass on a program also featuring William L. Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony.
- Singer, trombone player, and songwriter Aubrey Logan with Music Director Alain Trudel and the TSO for a program of jazz, soul, classic rock, and more.
- Golden Globe, Tony, and Emmy Award-winner Bernadette Peters makes her Toledo debut in a one-night-only Spotlight Event.
“I’m thrilled about our new season and the wonderful performers we will welcome to Toledo,” continues Vassar. “I’m also excited to unveil the artistic collaborations that we’ve created between the Toledo Symphony and Toledo Ballet. It will be a remarkable season!”
The ProMedica Masterworks Series includes 9 concerts on either Friday or Saturday evenings. Pianist Sara Davis Buechner returns to Toledo after a stellar performance of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto in 2019 to perform Florence Price’s Piano Concerto with the TSO (September 24 & 25). Grammy Award-winning soprano Measha Brueggergosman joins a celebration of Richard Wagner’s music in her prized interpretation of his Wesendonck Lieder (October 15 & 16). Syrian American clarinetist Kinan Azmeh joins the TSO for a program full of musical expeditions (November 5). Mezzo-soprano Susan Platts returns to Toledo to join tenor Brandon Scott Russell in Gustav Mahler’s haunting Das Lied von der Erde, or “Songs of the Earth” (November 19 & 20). Antonín Dvo?ák’s Symphony from the New World, together with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker’s Folk Songs for Orchestra and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915 highlight America’s musical legacy on the first program of the new year (January 15). The legendary Canadian Brass returns to Toledo for the first time in over a decade for a program featuring a unique blend of classical arrangements and Canadian Brass originals (February 18 & 19). Frequent guest conductor Giordano Bellincampi leads the TSO through Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony on March 4 & 5 on a program that also features violinist Benjamin Beilman performing Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s Violin Concerto. Toledo Ballet dancers join the TSO for a reimagined performance of Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka (April 1 & 2). The rhythms and stories of Spain’s rich heritage take spotlight on the April 30 program, Historias de España. Pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre celebrates music of André Mathieu, otherwise known as “Rachmaninoff’s Heir” alongside Rachmaninoff’s own Second Symphony (May 13 & 14). The series and 2021/2022 season conclude with America in the Key of Gershwin on June 3, featuring world premieres by composers Christopher Dietz and Alain Trudel, George Gershwin’s Catfish Row, and Wang Jie’s Symphonic Overture on America the Beautiful.
The KeyBank Pops Series remains at the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle Theater and will feature the orchestra along with renowned special guests. The series opens with “the classically-trained garage band” Time for Three and their original compositions, vocals, and mashups (October 23). On November 13, Detroit-based crooner Paul King and his trio join the TSO for a tribute to the legendary Tony Bennett. Vocalist Shayna Steele takes center stage to perform popular Soul and R&B hits on January 29. Singer, trombone player, and songwriter Aubrey Logan unites with Music Director Alain Trudel for a night of fusion between jazz and popular music (February 26). Songstress Joan Ellison celebrates Judy Garland’s centennial on March 19. The series concludes with Stars and Stripes Forever: A Tribute to John Philip Sousa, a patriotic program just before Memorial Day weekend (May 27).
The Buckeye Broadband & The Blade Chamber Series begins on September 19 at the Valentine Theatre with Coming Up for Air, a special collaboration between the TSO and Toledo Ballet, that brings to life Ólafur Arnalds’s stirring fantasy on the music of Frédéric Chopin. The series continues at the Peristyle Theater with Sister Cities, a performance on October 3 that pays tribute to Toledo’s sister cities across the globe with chamber music by female composers. The January 23 performance will feature Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s Clarinet Quintet as well as the chamber music of Antonín Dvo?ák and Felix Mendelssohn. Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) is featured on March 27 and the series concludes on April 10 with two of Brahms’s most beloved trios.
In addition to Coming Up for Air, Dance Special Events include Toledo Ballet’s 81st Nutcracker, which returns to the Stranahan Theater (December 10-12), Stravinsky’s Petrushka with the TSO (April 1 & 2), and Sound of Silence, a profound journey through time and space (May 6 & 7).
The Andersons Family Events showcase a seasonal favorite, Christmas at the Peristyle on December 4 and two new productions, Science & Symphony (November 11) and Superheroes on Stage (February 24).
This season’s Spotlight and Special Events include an evening with Grammy Award and 2017 MacArthur “genius” winner Rhiannon Giddens (September 12), Handel’s Messiah at Rosary Cathedral (December 5), and the Toledo debut of singer and actress Bernadette Peters (April 9).
Subscribers to any of the symphony or ballet’s 2021/2022 performance series can purchase tickets to An Evening with Rhiannon Giddens, Bernadette Peters, Handel’s Messiah, and Toledo Ballet’s 81st production of The Nutcracker now through the TAPA Box Office at 1838 Parkwood Avenue or by calling 419.246.8000. Single tickets will go on sale to the general public on August 2.
New this season, TAPA expands its streaming services by introducing an all-access pass. Subscribers can add an All-Access Pass to their subscription for $50. Virtual ticket holders can view on-demand performances on their computers, phones, tablets, as well as the TAPA Streaming apps on Apple TV and Roku devices. Stand-alone all-access passes can be purchased at stream.artstoledo.com for an annual fee of $150 or $15 per month, available beginning August 2.
The Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts is committed to the health and safety of its musicians, dancers, staff, and volunteers. The organization will continue to follow guidelines set by the State of Ohio and CDC related to COVID-19. Artists and performances are subject to change.
For full program information regarding the 2021/2022 season, visit toledosymphony.com or toledoballet.com. For questions, please contact Vanessa Gardner, Director of Marketing & Communications for the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts at vgardner@artstoledo.com.
ABOUT THE TOLEDO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Toledo Symphony Orchestra is a community-supported organization of professional musicians and teachers who deliver quality performance and music education for all.
Formed in 1943 as The Friends of Music and incorporated in 1951 as the Toledo Orchestra Association, Inc., the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has grown from a core group of twenty-two part-time musicians to a regional orchestra that employs sixty-nine professional musicians who consider the Toledo Symphony their primary employer, as well as numerous extra players annually as repertoire demands.
On January 1, 2019, the Toledo Symphony and Toledo Ballet officially merged to form the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), a new non-profit organization dedicated to providing exceptional live music and dance performances and education for the region. This partnership promises to create new and invigorating programs, provide cost and revenue synergies in operations, and integrate the arts through shared educational missions.
The Toledo Symphony reaches more than 260,000 individuals annually through performances and education programs. The series concerts (Masterworks, Pops, Chamber, and Family Series) are the critical underpinning of the orchestra’s artistic mission and regularly draw people from 135 postal zip codes. Education programs, student performances, and community concerts are held in schools, neighborhood churches, performing arts centers, and community facilities throughout the region; many are offered at no charge or provided at a reduced fee to help expand participation.
ABOUT TOLEDO BALLET
Toledo Ballet is a pre-professional dance company that inspires the passions and spirit of the Toledo community through dance. Under the artistic leadership of Artistic Director Lisa Mayer-Lang and Resident Choreographer Michael Lang, Toledo Ballet provides quality dance instruction and exceptional performance opportunities to over 250 students throughout northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan annually.
Founded in 1939 by Marie Bollinger Vogt, Toledo Ballet continues to offer quality dance education spanning all ages and ability levels. Classes include ballet, contemporary, tap, tumbling, and Adaptive Dance, a unique class providing those with special needs an opportunity to learn to move in ways that come naturally to them. Acting, voice, musical theater, and conditioning (Chi Kung, Pilates) are also offered at the school. In addition, Toledo Ballet brings in world-renowned, professional dancers each year to lead its summer intensive programs, drawing students from across the region seeking to advance their skills.
Toledo Ballet students have competed at the national and international level, including the Youth American Grand Prix (YAGP), the world’s largest international student ballet competition, and many have pursued dance professionally at some of the most prestigious ballet institutions in the nation, including New York City Ballet, Chicago Ballet, and Cincinnati Ballet.
On January 1, 2019, the Toledo Ballet and Toledo Symphony officially merged to form the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), a new non-profit organization dedicated to providing exceptional live music and dance performances and education for the region. Stemming from an 80-year partnership and annual presentation of The Nutcracker in Toledo, this merger is one of only a few in the nation and promises to create new and invigorating programs, provide cost and revenue synergies in operations, and integrate the arts through shared educational missions.
