The battle for the galaxy intensifies as Imperial Forces launch an all-out attack on the Rebel Alliance, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) flee to Cloud City where they are captured by Darth Vader. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) journeys to the mysterious, marshy planet of Dagobah, where the wise Jedi Master Yoda teaches the young hero the ways of the Force. Little does Luke know that all his Jedi training will be called upon so soon. A stunning revelation – and a seeming life-or-death duel with Darth Vader – await. Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts

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Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Bass Performance Hall

When Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 premiered in Leningrad, listeners gave an ovation that lasted longer than half an hour, catapulting this gripping, emotional work to immediate and lasting success. It’s one of the few works to unite both critics and the public in their positive opinions. To open the concert, Beethoven’s Egmont Overture suggests societal unease in its churning rhythms before five famous knocking notes open Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Youthful violinist Stephen Waarts takes to the stage for this staple of violin repertoire while FWSO music director Robert Spano helms the orchestra.

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto: Beethoven and Shostakovich

Felix Mendelssohn was a child prodigy on the level of Mozart. When he was 16 he composed his Octet, blending youthful exuberance with a maturity and sophistication of style that helped launch his international career due to the sheer charm of the music, including the Faust-inspired scherzo, with its flitting melodies and lighter-than-air sensations, a particular specialty of Mendelssohn’s. Completing the program are American composer Samuel Barber’s hazy wind quintet Summer Music, and music for two pianists by Ligeti, Debussy and Amy Beach featuring FWSO Music Director Robert Spano and Pedja Mužijevic.

 Mendelssohn, Barber, and music for two pianists

Sundance Square

Lasting Impressions invites you to rediscover the emotional power of art through a breathtaking new immersive orchestral experience.

Witness the spellbinding transformation of the Impressionist masterworks, brought to moving life by a team of artists using cutting-edge 3D Motion Sculpting technology. The world’s first use of three-dimensional technologies to showcase impressionist artworks in a new light.

With an exclusive introduction by Sophie Renoir, Lasting Impressions is an astonishing travelogue through Old Europe. Featuring 14 artists including Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir with more than 100 paintings presented on a custom ultra high-definition stereoscopic screen aligned with an entrancing soundtrack to match. The art is choreographed to renowned composers such as Debussy & Ravel as well as popular music including French and global songs such as Ce sera moi sung by Nana Mouskouri.

Lasting Impressions

Will Rogers Memorial Center

While writing his masterful eighth symphony, Czech Dvořák told a friend that “melodies simply pour out of me.” Indeed, this symphony is perhaps Dvořák’s most melodic, from the rhapsodic first movement to the electrifying finale. Czech conductor Tomáš Netopil has paired the symphony with one of Dvořák’s lively Slavonic Dances, originally composed as piano duets to earn some cash early on in his career. Finally, pianist Lukáš Vondráček takes to the stage for Czech-tutored composer Chopin’s first piano concerto, written at the tender age of 20.

Dvořák’s Eighth: Dvořák and Chopin

Jennifer Higdon discusses her career, compositional style, and her Low Brass Concerto which is on the program for the Symphonic Series Season Finale from May 31– June 2, 2024. These performances will feature works that showcase brass instruments as part of a collaboration between the FWSO, Texas Christian University, and the 2024 International Trombone Festival which will be hosted in Fort Worth. 

Meet Jennifer Higdon

Kimbell Art Museum

In partnership with the International Trombone Festival and Texas Christian University, The FWSO’s season finale goes out with a blast, spotlighting the brass instruments of the orchestra. Music Director Robert Spano will lead the ensemble in a brand-new double concerto for trombone and piano by Texas Christian University alumnus Kevin Day as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s river sings a song to trees. For the big finish: Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

Season Finale: Jennifer Higdon, Kevin Day, and Mahler 5

First, Principal Violist DJ Cheek will perform Bruch’s achingly sweet Romance for viola and orchestra. English horn player Tim Daniels stars as the majestic voice of the swan in Sibelius’ epic tone poem Swan of Tuonela, and Principal Trumpeter Kyle Sherman gives voices to Tartini’s graceful and precise Concerto in D Major, a testament to the splendor of Italian baroque music.

Stars of the Symphony

Tchaikovsky, one of Russia’s greatest musical geniuses, was prone to bouts of self-doubt and reflection, but with his sixth and final symphony he knew he had a masterpiece on his hands. The “Pathétique” (“Passionate Symphony”) is an abstract exploration of the depth of human feeling and the centerpiece of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s celebratory opening weekend with Music Director Robert Spano and star violinist James Ehnes performing Sibelius’ glacial Violin Concerto with its “polonaise for polar bears” and Berlioz’s swashbuckling Roman Carnival Overture.

Opening Weekend: Tchaikovsky’s Sixth and Sibelius’ Violin Concerto

As an adventurous young lad, the composer Richard Strauss lost his way climbing up one of the Alps. Later, at the height of his compositional powers, he captured that experience in a piece of symphonic music that details eleven hours, dawn to nightfall, of a treacherous climb.  FWSO Principal Guest Conductor Kevin John Edusei will open the concert with Mozart’s Overture to Don Giovanni, which pivots from high melodrama to a more comic tone, and a rarely heard modernist treat by Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky.

Mozart and Strauss

Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique is widely regarded as the first important symphonic poem, complete with shepherd’s pipes, a dance, a “March to the Scaffold,” a beheading, a “Witches’ Sabbath,” and more for sharp-eared listeners. FWSO Music Director Robert Spano serves as guide on this exploration of Berlioz’s psyche, which follows Debussy’s hazy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Schumann’s Cello Concerto with FWSO Principal Cellist Allan Steele.

The Fwso’s Allan Steele: Schumann Cello Concerto and Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

Bringing center stage the music of legendary artists Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, James Brown, and others, in an evening of soulful rhythms. Featured hits include “Just My Imagination,” “Try a Little Tenderness,” “Dance to the Music” and “Get Ready.”

Kings of Soul

Ready to “wow” your little ones? Perfect for ages 3-10, FLY Dance Company’s talented hip-hop dancers will keep your youngsters on the edge of their seats with jaw-dropping breakdance moves set to a mix of classical favorites!  The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra will turn classical music on its side with this hip-hop meets classical live experience!

FLY Dance Company Breakin' Classical

In 2022, pianist Angela Hewitt was the only live performer for BBC Radio’s broadcasts after the funeral and committal of Queen Elizabeth II. An artist of rare sensitivity lands in Fort Worth to perform Mozart’s jubilant Piano Concerto No. 25, with all its fanfares and filigree, before conductor Jane Glover leads the orchestra in Mozart’s 31st symphony (“Paris”). Filling out the program are Benjamin Britten’s Suite on English Folk Tunes and Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin (Grave of Couperin), written in memory of a French composer.

Jane Glover Conducts Mozart

First released in 1993, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas was directed by Henry Selick (James and the Giant Peach) and based on a story and characters by Tim Burton. The film follows the earnest-but-misguided adventures of Jack Skellington, Halloween Town's beloved Pumpkin King, as he attempts to take over the Christmas holiday. Against the advice of Sally, a lonely rag doll who has feelings for him, Jack enlists three mischievous trick-or-treaters – Lock, Shock, and Barrel – to help him kidnap Santa Claus. The film is rated PG.

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

The composer Korngold is remembered best for his film scores to silver-screen classics like The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood, but his concert works are also a testament to his prodigious talent. (He published the Piano Trio when he was only 13.) In this first FWSO Chamber Program, Korngold’s music appears alongside Mozart’s Serenade in C minor and a Divertissement by Schulhoff, whose music was buried by the Nazis but has been reemerging in recent years.

Mozart, Schulhoff, and Korngold

Santa’s marking up his list and setting his sleigh’s course for Bass Performance Hall! In this season of joy and togetherness, music-lovers young and old are invited to join in the city’s greatest caroling session in the city. The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s holiday favorite,  “Home for the Holidays” concert, features collection of favorite holiday tunes and a visit from ol’ Kris Kringle himself.  Guaranteed to bring a smile to the entire family!

Home for the Holidays

There are tectonic forces at play here: In December, the FWSO will give the world premiere performance of American composer Jake Heggie and Librettist Anita Amirrezvani’s, Earth 2.0 — a work exploring ecology and the environment in music — featuring star counter-tenor Key’mon Murrah and in partnership with the New York-based dance troupe Urban Bush Women. The orchestra’s Music Director Robert Spano will conduct the premiere before turning to one of the most universal works in the classical canon, Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony.

Spano Conducts Beethoven and Jake Heggie

Fearless optimist, Princess Anna, sets off on an epic journey – teaming up with rugged mountain man, Kristoff, and his loyal reindeer Sven – to find her sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls, and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom.  Voices include Kristen Bell (Anna), Jonathan Groff (Kristoff), Idina Menzel (Elsa), Josh Gad (Olaf), Santino Fontana (Hans), Alan Tudyk (Duke of Weselton). The film received the Academy® Award for Best Animated Feature.

Frozen in Concert

Dvořák’s ninth and final symphony is also his most famous. Dubbed “From the New World” as the composer wrote it while in America and borrowed heavily from American spiritual tunes, it captures something of the grandeur and frontier spirit of the day, even in the tender second movement, an orchestral expression of the song “Goin’ Home.” This concert fuses the new world with the old, as Mozart’s stormy 40th symphony and the overture to his brief comedy The Impresario fill out the front half of the program.

 Dvořák’s “New World” and Mozart’s 40th

Would Star Wars be Star Wars without John Williams’ might trumpet blasts? Would Ridley Scott’s “Alien” have been nearly as creepy without the magic of Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting score? Would the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park have felt nearly as majestic without the warmth of that famous melody in the strings? Don’t miss the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s tour of some of the greatest scores in sci-fi movie history, including music from Star Trek, X-Files, Alien, Jurassic Park, Star Wars and more.

Sci-Fi Symphony

Strauss’ tone poem Don Juan is a bold musical retelling of the story of a serial womanizer. After alternating fiery bravura passages with more romantic themes and solos, Juan’s music sighs in death at the hands of his lover’s father. Principal Guest Conductor Kevin John Edusei conducts this program, which also features FWSO Concertmaster Michael Shih and Principal Violist DJ Cheek in Mozart’s bright Sinfonia Concertante and Sibelius’ stirring fifth symphony, about which the composer wrote: “It was as if God the Father was throwing pieces of mosaic from the edge of heaven.”

The FWSO’s Michael Shih and DJ Cheek: Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante

The film that gave the world one of its greatest movie heroes, Indiana Jones, is back and better than ever before! Relive the magic on the silver screen with the original great adventure… Raiders of the Lost Ark… with John Williams’ epic score performed live to picture by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra!

 Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Who doesn’t love the story of 1,001 Arabian Nights? In Scheherazade, Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov used the full might of the symphony orchestra to retell a few of those tales. Heavy brass portray the sultan while a violin solo spins out the beginning of each of Scheherazade’s tales. Balancing the program is another of music’s most famous tales, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, a ferocious story of sacrifice and rebirth where the orchestra and dancers share the stage.

Musical storytelling Spano Conducts: Scheherazade and The Rite of Spring

Fall in love again with the smooth sounds of the legendary Tony Bennet. Audiences can expect an unforgettable journey through Bennett’s chart-topping hits and heartfelt ballads, that have touched the hearts of millions around the world with a live orchestra.

Tony Bennett: The Official Musical Celebration

This popular adaption of two Classical Kids stories features Mozart’s young son, Karl, who longs to be taken from his boarding school to spend more time with his famous father. An old traveling trunk serves as a magic chest that reveals an incredible journey back in time to Mozart’s childhood and into the fantastic world of Mozart’s great opera, The Magic Flute. Along the way, Karl comes to understand Mozart’s extraordinary life as a traveling prodigy, his passion for composing, the pressures of family and fame, and the common bonds they both share.

Mozart's Magnificent Voyage

When Arnold Schoenberg met the woman he would marry, he was taken over by such strong emotion that he committed his impressions to music. The string sexted Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) follows the five stanzas of a poem with the same name, and though he’s now remembered for his work in atonality, this early offering is still as tonal and romantic as they come. After intermission, members of the FWSO will turn to Brahms’ G minor Piano Quartet, which finishes with its fiery Hungarian-style rondo.

Brahms and Schoenberg

A multi-Grammy Award winner and 2018 Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Joyce DiDonato entertains audiences across the globe, and has been proclaimed “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation: by The New Yorker.  With a voice “nothing less than 24-carat gold” according to The New York Times, she has towered at the top of the industry both as a performer, a producer, and a fierce advocate for the arts.

 Gala Concert Starring Joyce DiDonato

In 2018, Marvel Studios’ Black Panther quickly became a global sensation and cultural phenomenon, showing a new dimension of what Super Hero films could be. Rolling Stone raved, “The film lights up the screen with a full-throttle blast of action and fun. That’s to be expected. But what sneaks up and floors you is the film’s racial conscience and profound, astonishing beauty.” Now you can relive the excitement of T’Challa becoming king and battling Killmonger all while the Forth Worth Symphony Orchestra performs Ludwig Göransson’s Oscar®-winning score live to picture.

Black Panther in Concert

A superstitious composer, Mahler greatly feared the musical “curse of the ninth,” which claimed the lives of other great symphonists like Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner. His own ninth, a work of epic melodies and proportions, was indeed his final symphonic offering, a four-movement work that many hear as Mahler’s farewell to life, a glorious work that sets the soul aflame. Be there when Music Director Robert Spano and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra explore this tour-de-force, which begins with an irregular rhythm that Bernstein suggested was Mahler’s failing symphonic heartbeat.

Spano conducts Mahler’s Ninth

In the spectacular climactic sixth episode of the Star Wars saga, Darth Vader readies the second Death Star to unleash the final blow to the Rebel Alliance. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) joins his droid allies R2-D2 and C-3PO, along with Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), to free his comrade Han Solo (Harrison Ford), imprisoned by the vile crime lord, Jabba the Hutt. Reunited, the Rebels race to the moon of the planet Endor where they launch a desperate attack upon the entire Imperial Fleet. But the ultimate battle is between father and son, as Luke faces Darth Vader one last time, for the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert

Wagner’s opera The Flying Dutchman is a eerie tale of redemption through love, set in the fearsome world of a ghost sea captain. To close out the symphonic season, the FWSO has assembled an all-star vocal cast and chorus to bring this spectral story to life in sharp relief, with all the tempestuousness and drama of Wagner’s music distilled in a special semi-staged production.

Wagner's The Flying Dutchman

Join the Fort Worth Symphony for a family friendly concert that brings to life the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. This concert will feature music, dance, and a projected storybook as Little Red takes us on a journey to grandma’s house. What dangers and adventure lie ahead, and how will the story end? Find out as you experience Little Red Riding Hood as never before!

Storybook: Little Red Riding Hood

TCU Music Center

In this not-to-be-missed program, the FWSO’s own Principal Clarinetist Stas Chernyshev steps to the front of the stage for Mozart’s sublime clarinet concerto, a work of utter elegance and refinement written for a fellow freemason. An all-Mozart affair, the performance also includes the madcap Overture to The Marriage of Figaro and the Symphony No. 39, which opens with one of the grandest fanfares in the canon before launching into a grand, courtly affair that has captivated the ear for more than 200 years.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra

26 - 28 Apr, 2024

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

3 - 5 May, 2024

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto: Beethoven and Shostakovich

May 4, 2024

Mendelssohn, Barber, and music for two pianists

May 11, 2024

Lasting Impressions

24 - 26 May, 2024

Dvořák’s Eighth: Dvořák and Chopin

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra

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