Akron Symphony's new season to start with celebration of E.J. Thomas Hall's 50th anniversary

The Akron Symphony Orchestra has announced a nine-concert season for 2023-2024 with performances ranging from a celebration of E.J. Thomas Hall's 50th anniversary to a second creative collaboration between the orchestra and EarthQuaker Devices of Akron.

The concert season, which is the orchestra's 70th, will open Sept. 29 with Beethoven's towering Ninth Symphony in a program celebrating E.J. Thomas Hall's 50th anniversary at the University of Akron. It's a fitting piece to honor the venue, the orchestra's longtime performance home, considering the Akron Symphony performed Beethoven's Ninth with its beloved "Ode to Joy" choral finale at the hall's inaugural night on Oct. 9, 1973.

"We are thrilled to be a part of E.J. Thomas Hall's 50th anniversary celebrations and honored to have the opportunity to open the Akron Symphony Orchestra's 70th season at this historic venue," Executive Director Paul Jarrett said in a statement.

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E.J. Thomas Hall, a three-level auditorium that seats nearly 3,000, has a 44-ton, movable ceiling that can close off either the Flying Balcony or both the Flying Balcony and Grand Tier. Twenty-seven chrome, computer-controlled counterweights in Goodrich Lobby that weigh more than 40 tons balance the ceiling in the house.

Architects Caudill, Rowlett and Scott of Houston, and Dalton, Van Dijk, Johnson and Partners of Cleveland designed the $13.9 million hall. It was named in honor of Edwin J. Thomas, retired Goodyear chairman and CEO and a longtime member of the UA board of trustees.

Diverse season of Akron Symphony programming

The orchestra's diverse season will feature the music of Mozart on the same program as composers Jake Gunnar Walsh and Jon Sonnenberg's "Conflagration," a sequel to last season's "Confluence" commission featuring otherworldly sounds from acoustic orchestral instruments paired with EarthQuaker electronic effects pedals.

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"In this anniversary season, we'll perform many 'greatest hits.' But the classical tradition is wide and deep, filled with extraordinary works not widely known. We love to explore this music too," Music Director Christopher Wilkins said in a statement.

Newer or lesser-known works to be performed next season include Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate's "Clan," Sept. 29, drawn from his Chickasaw heritage and narrated by Akron's LaDonna Blue Eye of the Choctaw Nation; a new work by Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad, "Bohemian Queen" Concerto for Trumpet, April 6, 2024; and the late Akron composer Julia Perry's Prelude for Strings, also April 6.

Here is the full Akron Symphony season

Sept. 29: Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tat's “Clans” from "Fire and Light" and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9

Oct. 21: Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson's "Worship," Respighi's "Church Windows" and Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony, featuring organist Robert Mollard

Nov. 18: William Grant Still's "Festive Overture"; Dvořák's Cello Concerto, featuring cellist Khari Joyner of Baldwin Wallace University; Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique”

Jan. 13, 2024: Arvo Pärt's "Fratres," Mozart's Symphony No. 29; Mary Lou Williams' "Zodiac Suite,"Jake Gunnar Walsh and Jon Sonnenberg's "Conflagration" (with EarthQuaker Devices)

March 2, 2024: Wagner's "Lohengrin:" Prelude to Act I, Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 “Romantic”

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April 6, 2024: Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on “Greensleeves;” Jessie Montgomery's "Strum;" Clarice Assad's "Bohemian Queen" Concerto for Trumpet and String Orchestra, featuring trumpeter Mary Elizabeth Bowden; Jennifer Higdon's "Reel Time;" Julia Perry's Prelude for Strings; Tchaikovsky's "Souvenir de Florence"

May 11, 2024: Lili Boulanger's "On a Spring Morning," Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin," Mozart's Great Mass in C minor.

Additional special concerts will be the Holiday Pops Dec. 8 and the 30th anniversary Gospel Meet Symphony concert Feb. 10, 2024. All concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. at E.J. Thomas Hall.

Subscription packages will go on sale in April, with early-bird pricing ending May 14. Single tickets starting at $20 will go on sale Aug. 1. For more information, see akronsymphony.org or call 330-535-8131.

Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: What is the Akron Symphony's 2023-24 season schedule?