South Florida Symphony Orchestra to Open 26th Key West Season Jan. 20

KEY WEST, Florida Keys — Classical music aficionados can celebrate the South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s 2024 season by joining the landmark orchestra in Key West for three Masterworks concerts.

Founded in Key West, the renowned symphony is guided by award-winning conductor and Key West native Sebrina María Alfonso. Its 26th Masterworks season in the island city launches Saturday, Jan. 20, with a concert spotlighting female composers Florence Price and Jessie Montgomery.

The symphony is to demonstrate its mastery on “Andante Moderato” for strings by Price, who in 1933 became the first Black woman to have a composition performed by a major American orchestra. The symphony is to feature internationally acclaimed pianist Awadagin Pratt for Montgomery’s “Rounds,” a 2023 Grammy nominee for best contemporary classical composition.

Also on the concert program are Johann Sebastian Bach’s lyrical Keyboard Concerto No. 4 in A Major, also with Pratt at the piano, and Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68.

The second Masterworks performance in Key West is set for Friday, March 1, showcasing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, and a musical tapestry of grand opera finales. Four virtuoso vocal soloists and the South Florida Symphony Chorus are to join the orchestra.

The Key West season is to conclude Friday, March 29, with a concert that includes Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird Suite,” Maurice Ravel’s stirring “Bolero” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Three Dance Episodes” from his Broadway musical “On the Town.” The program is highlighted by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Clarinet Concerto, a moving elegy on America’s 9/11 attacks that features soloist David Shifrin on clarinet.

All three Masterworks concerts are to take place at 7:30 p.m. at Key West’s Tennessee Williams Theatre, 5901 College Road on the campus of The College of the Florida Keys.

Two- and three-concert subscription packages can be purchased by clicking the Key West “subscribe” links at southfloridasymphony.org/2023-24-season/. Tickets for individual performances are available as well.

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