TOLEDO, OH – The Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO), Toledo Ballet, and Toledo Jazz Orchestra (TJO) announced that tickets to the 2023/2024 performance season – spanning September 14 through June 3 – will be available for purchase starting today, Tuesday, August 1. Subscription packages can also be purchased now by calling the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) Box Office at 419.246.8000 or by visiting artstoledo.com/subscribe. 

The Toledo Symphony celebrates its 80th anniversary season with world-renowned artists, world premieres, and special events. The season opens with legendary saxophonist Branford Marsalis who will perform Gabriel Prokofiev’s Saxophone Concerto. This Rita Barbour Kern Masterworks performance also features a world premiere by Barbara Assiginaak, an Odawa First Nations composer. Her original score will celebrate Toledo’s Glass City River Wall, the largest public mural in North America.  

“Your favorite orchestra is turning 80!” remarks Toledo Symphony Music Director Alain Trudel. “Indeed, the Toledo Symphony is not just an orchestra in Toledo but truly Toledo’s Orchestra. Throughout the season, we will celebrate the diversity of our community through the arts with special projects and collaborations that bring us all together.” 

In addition to the Rita Barbour Kern Masterworks Series, KeyBank Pops Series, and Anderson’s Inc. Family Series, Toledo Symphony announces five additional special events taking place throughout the year.  

• Alternative rock band Guster will perform with the Toledo Symphony for one night only on Wednesday, September 20 at 7:30PM at the Peristyle.  
• Simply the Best: The Music of Tina Turner features two-time Grammy Award winner Tamika Lawrence, Broadway star Shaleah Adkisson, Scott Coulter, and John Boswell celebrating Tina Turner’s legacy with her biggest hits including “What’s Love Got to Do With It?,” “Proud Mary,” and more. Saturday, September 30 at 8PM at the Peristyle. 
• Toledo Symphony partners with Oliver Hazard (natives of Waterville, OH) to present a fully orchestrated version of their new album Northern Lights. Friday, October 27 at 8PM at the Valentine Theatre. 
• Together with choruses from Bowling Green State University, Toledo Symphony will perform Mozart’s Requiem Mass with its haunting Lacrimosa and famous Tuba Mirum. Saturday, February 24 at 8PM at the Peristyle. 
• On May the Fourth (2024), Toledo Symphony presents Star Wars: Return of the Jedi film with orchestra at the Stranahan Theater. 

The Buckeye Broadband and The Blade Chamber series will feature four performances – two at Wildwood Metropark and two at the Toledo Museum of Art GlasSalon. Further details regarding this musician-curated series to be announced.  

Toledo Ballet celebrates its 84th season and continues to present the longest-running, annual production of The Nutcracker in the nation. This year’s Nutcracker will be choreographed by Eric Otto and is presented in part by Fifth Third Bank.  

“At this year’s Halloween Spooktacular, I will be presenting a sneak peek of my ballet “Sleepy Hollow”,” says Toledo Ballet Artistic Director and Head of Curriculum Eric Otto. “I’m looking forward to creating a full-length ballet that will become a new fall family tradition here in Toledo.”  

Toledo Ballet will also perform Tchaikovsky’s iconic ballet The Sleeping Beauty April 6-7, 2024 at the Valentine Theatre.  

Toledo Ballet’s productions are some of the only feature length ballet productions in Northwest Ohio that are accompanied by a professional orchestra – the Toledo Symphony.  

The Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts continues its strategic partnership with the Toledo Jazz Orchestra to present a five-concert series. The Hartmann Bogan Jazz Series features Branford Marsalis, Gene Parker, local vocal legend Ramona Collins, a tribute to Buddy Rich, and the return of A Swingin’ Christmas at the Peristyle. 

“A cornerstone of TAPA is the belief that we can do more together than apart. That’s the power of collaboration,” says Zak Vassar, President & CEO of TAPA. “After a first incredibly successful pilot season, we are excited to continue this partnership to present live jazz music to our community.” 

2023/2024 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS 

• Three-time Grammy Award winner Branford Marsalis performs with both the Toledo Jazz Orchestra and the Toledo Symphony for their season openers. (September 14 and 16) 
• Toledo Symphony commissions two world premieres to celebrate Toledo’s Glass City River Wall (September 16) and Toledo’s position in the path of totality of the 2024 solar eclipse (March 22&23). 
• TSO’s 80th Birthday Bash concert on November 3 is a throwback to the TSO’s first public performance featuring the music of Brahms, Ravel, a living composer, and a US premiere.  
• Visionary composer, conductor, producer, and songwriter Steve Hackman returns to Toledo with the melding of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony and the music of Coldplay (Beethoven X Coldplay, Saturday, October 14). 
• Renowned pianist and Toledo favorite Olga Kern performs Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto (January 19-20.) 
• The TSO performs the live soundtrack to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi on May the Fourth at the Stranahan.  
• Toledo Ballet performs Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (December 9-10) and The Sleeping Beauty (April 6-7) with live music performed by the Toledo Symphony.  

For a full listing of events, visit www.artstoledo.com/events.  

WAYS TO ATTEND  

• Subscribe to the Rita Barbour Kern Masterworks Series (8 Fridays or 8 Saturdays starting at $208, or all 12 starting at $312), KeyBank Pops Series (4 Saturdays and 2 Fridays starting at $144), The Andersons Family Series (3 performances for $75), or the Hartmann Bogan Jazz Series (5 performances starting at $110) are available to purchase now by calling 419.246.8000 or by visiting www.artstoledo.com/subscribe  
   
• Flex passes for 5, 6, 8, or 12 performances starting at $115 are available to purchase now by calling 419.246.8000. 
   
• Single tickets to all Toledo Symphony, Toledo Ballet, and Toledo Jazz Orchestra performances starting at $20 go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, August 1 and can be purchased at www.artstoledo.com/events or 419.246.8000. 

For full program information regarding the 2023/2024 performance season visit www.artstoledo.com. For questions, please contact Vanessa Gardner, Vice President of Marketing & Operations for TAPA at vgardner@artstoledo.com.  

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ABOUT 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. 

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. 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 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.  

In July 2022, Toledo Ballet named professional dancer, educator, and choreographer Eric Otto as Artistic Director.  

ABOUT TOLEDO ALLIANCE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS 

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 81-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. 

ABOUT THE TOLEDO JAZZ ORCHESTRA 

Since 1979, the Toledo Jazz Orchestra has worked with dozens of industry legends, including Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams, Clark Terry and Zoot Sims. This 18-member group also performs the works of the major big bands from the past eight decades along with arrangements commissioned specifically for the orchestra. The Toledo Jazz Orchestra has two albums to its credit titled “Groovin’” and “Out of Nowhere.” This season the Toledo Jazz Orchestra presents a five-concert series – the Hartmann Bogan Jazz Series. For more information about TJO, visit toledojazz.org.