The Philharmonic Society of Orange County will stage a full season of concerts by visiting musicians and orchestras during its 2022-23 season.
Among the season’s highlights announced Tuesday, April 5, are the return of iconic cellist Yo-Yo Ma at the Segerstrom Center and violinist Midori, marking the 40th anniversary of her debut performing with the New York Philharmonic, at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, both in April.
The Vienna Boys Choir will present an evening of holiday music in November at the Soka Performing Arts Center in Aliso Viejo. The Chicago Symphony, with conductor Riccardo Muti in his final season, will perform at Segerstrom Hall in January.
Midori, shown performing with the Pacific Symphony in 2016, will return to Orange County in April 2023 to play a concert commemorating the 40th anniversary of her concert debut with the New York Philharmonic. (File photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“After two years of facing unanticipated challenges from the pandemic, this season represents a return of bold, celebrated orchestras, dynamic programs and renown artists and ensembles that the Philharmonic Society has been historically known to present,” Tommy Phillips, the society’s president and artistic director, said in a written announcement. “The new season, one of the largest and most compelling seasons we’ve presented in some years, is a reflection and response to our community’s desire and directive that live music not be anything other than a fundamental, irreplicable component of our society.”
The Philharmonic Society’s season kicks off Oct. 11 with a concert by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with Mirga Grazinyte-Tila conducting and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor.
Pianist Daniil Trifonov will perform a recital in the Segerstrom Concert Hall on Nov. 11 that will include Scriabin’s Piano Sonata.
Violinist Randall Goosby, a protege of Itzhak Perlman and the recipient of a 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, will perform in the Samueli Theater on Dec. 2.
Other notable concerts include the baroque orchestra Concerto Köln accompanied by Trinidadian soprano Jeanine de Bique in a program of operas by Handel and his contemporaries, and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra with violinist Daniel Hope playing works by 20th century American composers. Both concerts will be in Segerstrom Concert Hall in March.
The Japanese taiko drumming company Kodo will return to Orange County in February to perform “Tsuzumi,” a commemorative work marking the ensemble’s 40th anniversary. (Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba, AFP via Getty Images)
Eclectic Orange, a series of concerts that push boundaries and explore relationships between different art forms and genres, will also return.
Highlights include the Kronos Quartet performing with Persian vocalist Mahsa Vahdat at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Oct. 21; Japanese taiko drumming ensemble Kodo commemorating its 40th anniversary with a work called “Tsuzumi” at the Soka Performing Arts Center on Feb. 2; and cellist Alisa Weilerstein launching her “Fragments” project, which juxtaposes Bach cello suites with new music, at the Barclay on March 12.
The season closes with the annual visit by the Los Angeles Philharmonic to Segerstrom Concert Hall on April 30. Elim Chan will guest conduct the orchestra in a program that will include a newly commissioned work by Clarice Assad, violinist Leila Josefowicz tackling Thomas Adès “Concentric Fields” concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.
Subscription packages for the 2022-23 season are currently on sale. Single tickets to individual concerts are currently available only to subscribers; they will go on sale to the general public on Aug. 22. For more information, call 949-553-2422 or at www.PhilharmonicSociety.org.