Staying true to its name, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County is bringing music lovers a full season in 2021–2022. And the first year back after the pandemic, there are surprisingly few compromises. Along with the usual soloists and chamber groups, eight orchestras feature on the schedule.
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra plays one of the final concerts of the season, May 12, 2022, at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. It’s an all-LACO affair: composer-in-residence Ellen Reid has a new piece on the program, concertmaster Margaret Batjer and principal cellist Andrew Schulman are the soloists, and Jaime Martín conducts.
But the other orchestras are coming from farther than just one county over. The Russian National Orchestra visits Feb. 25, 2022, with Music Director Mikhail Pletnev not on the podium but at the keyboard, in Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields return March 11, 2022, with a program of Bach, Barber, and Beethoven. And Simon Rattle leads the London Symphony Orchestra on March 22, 2022, one stop on the group’s North American tour.
The rest of the visiting ensembles this season are Les Violons du Roy with mandolinist Avi Avital (Oct. 23), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Jan. 14, 2022), the Basel Chamber Orchestra (March 4, 2022), and the English Baroque Soloists (April 14, 2022).
It’s mostly strings for the chamber music: the Modigliani, Casals, and Tetzlaff Quartets, and the Danish String Quartet too, all play concerts this season. The Jerusalem Quartet is joined by violinist Pinchas Zukerman and cellist Amanda Forsyth for a program of sextets on Nov. 3. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center brings the wind players on Dec. 11 for a performance of Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos.
In recital, there’ll be some familiar faces. Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason, the brother-and-sister duo who were virtual artists-in-residence for the Philharmonic Society this past season, finally deliver an in-person program April 21, 2022. And another rising star cellist, Zlatomir Fung, opens the whole season with a big recital Oct. 8.
For the complete 2021–2022 schedule and ticket information, visit the Philharmonic Society of Orange County’s website.
