News

Symphony opens season under new conductor next month

By Lightning Reports, Published: September 25, 2022

The Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra opens its historic 50th season with two October concerts featuring new Music Director/Conductor John Young Shik Concklin.

Tickets are on sale now for the 2022-23 concert season that features three Masterworks concerts, a holiday concert and two Chamber Orchestra concerts.

Named conductor and music director in June after a three-year search process delayed by Covid, Concklin has served as a fellowship conductor at the Aspen Music Festival and teaching assistant at the Brevard Music Center and was a finalist at the New World Symphony and Debut Orchestras.He has studied at Vanderbilt University, Yale University and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

On Oct. 8 HSO will host the first Masterworks concert of the year, titled JYSC’s Favorites. The inaugural concert will feature two of the Concklin’s favorite pieces: Symphony no. 39 in E flat Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Symphony no. 2 by Johannes Brahms. The concert will be held at the Blue Ridge Conference Center at BRCC at 7:30 pm.
“Both of these symphonies are joyous and celebratory in nature, and are a perfect pairing to kick off the new season,” said Paul Conroy, HSO's executive director. “In addition to our core Masterworks performances, John has put together special Chamber Orchestra concerts that will allow audiences to enjoy the more intimate setting of Bo Thomas Auditorium in Flat Rock.”
On Oct. 29 the HSO leans into humorous sides of Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Mozart with its first chamber orchestra concert of the season at Bo Thomas Auditorium. Starting the concert is Stravinsky’s cheeky Pulcinella Suite, which revisits music from the baroque period. Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, a musical tease that evokes Haydn’s mischief.

Guest artist Ellen Breakfield-Glick will make her HSO debut performing Mozart’s exquisite Clarinet Concerto. Breakfield-Glick serves on the faculty at Western Michigan University School of Music as assistant professor of clarinet since the fall of 2019.

For more information or to purchase concert tickets, visit hendersonvillesyphony.org, or call the HSO office at 828-697-5884.