Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Returns to The Music Center at Strathmore

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Returns to The Music Center at Strathmore

Strathmore Reaches Agreement with IASTE Local 868

BETHESDA (December 10, 2021) – The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) returns to The Music Center at Strathmore for its 2021-22 Season of Discovery beginning on January 6 – the Orchestra’s first performance in its second home since March 2020. The BSO’s return comes after Strathmore’s latest agreement with IATSE Local 868, the union representing its ticket sellers – an agreement that not only maintains generous wages and benefits for Strathmore’s ticket-sellers as well as builds in new investments in their professional development; but also, allows Strathmore to introduce new technology for its patrons’ convenience.

“Our two years of negotiations with IATSE Local 868 always has been about two priorities: people, and our future together,” said Strathmore President and CEO Monica Jeffries Hazangeles. “We are pleased that our latest agreement provides for both. It ensures all of our other employees, artists from around the world, and patrons from across the region can continue to rely on Strathmore as our community’s most vibrant venue for live entertainment, arts education, and events.” She continued, “At the same time, we have long wanted the BSO to be here for our community. We are pleased that we have jointly come to a resolution and that the Orchestra will once again fill our halls with music.”

With this labor resolution in hand, and working together, Strathmore and the BSO executed an abbreviated season contract for the Orchestra to resume its performances at the Music Center at Strathmore beginning in January and running through June 18, 2022. Reflective of shared commitments to partnership and mutual success as outlined in their founding Memorandum of Agreement, this abbreviated contract upholds both parties’ respective rights and obligations as Founding Partners, as well as commits the BSO to pay Strathmore rental fees for each of the 24 remaining concerts in the 2021-22 season.

“The Music Center at Strathmore is truly a beloved second home for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,” said BSO Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Tonya McBride Robles. “We deeply value our relationship with the venue and are thrilled to have reached an agreement on an abbreviated contract for the remainder of the season. Not only can we now bring extraordinary orchestral performances to our cherished audience members in Montgomery County, but we can also continue our work towards being an orchestra that serves every corner of our state.”

Strathmore and the BSO are committed to continuing positive and collaborative conversations about the future.

[Quote from MoCo Exec about the importance of the partnership, and appreciation for Monica and the leadership at Strathmore for its commitment to serving its patrons, team, and our community well]

As Founding Partner, the BSO has performed in The Music Center at Strathmore since the venue opened in 2005, making the BSO the nation’s first orchestra to perform its full subscription season in two metropolitan areas. The BSO returns to The Music Center at Strathmore on January 6 in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 with conductor Ryan Bancroft. As part of an ongoing commitment to perform across Maryland, the BSO has also performed pop up concerts all throughout Montgomery County on November 30 and plans to present a free Symphony in Your City concert on February 3 hosted by Montgomery College.

 

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BSO IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

For a full listing of events visit: Strathmore.org or BSOmusic.org

 

Beethoven Symphony No. 7
Thursday, January 6, 2022 at 8 pm
The Music Center at Strathmore

Ligeti’s Concert Românesc, which draws from folk music he studied at the Folklore Institute of Bucharest, opens the program. Tracy Silverman* elevates the electric violin in Adams’ The Dharma at Big Sur, a piece written specifically for him by Pulitzer Prize-winner John Adams. American conductor Ryan Bancroft leads the orchestra with Beethoven’s remarkable Seventh Symphony on the second half.

*The Dharma at Big Sur was originally scheduled to be performed by Chloë Hanslip, who is no longer able to perform on this program due to delays in the visa application process, as experienced by so many during the pandemic.

Sinatra and Friends
Thursday, January 13, 2022 at 8 pm

Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra were two undisputed masters of “The Great American Songbook.” Capathia Jenkins and Tony DeSare bring them back to the stage for performances with the BSO that include “Come Fly With Me,” “The Lady is a Tramp,” and other standard classics from these two legendary singers.

Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony
Friday, January 21, 2022 at 8 pm

Strauss’ Don Juan opens a powerful program. Giving voice to Maryland native and American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Wordsmith joins the BSO and guest conductor Robert Trevino in a world premiere by James Lee III. Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony, one of the greatest programmatic symphonies of the 19th century, is also featured on the program.

Off The Cuff: Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony
Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 3 pm

Robert Trevino makes his BSO conducting debut with performances of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony. Lord Byron’s metaphysical poem “Manfred” provides inspiration for this work, Tchaikovsky’s most vivid programmatic symphony.

Benedetti Performs Marsalis Violin Concerto
Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 8 pm

Marin Alsop returns to the podium for a world premiere by composer and sound artist Angélica Castelló. Following the premiere, Grammy Award-winner Nicola Benedetti performs Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto in D Major, a work written specially for her. Saint-Saëns’ brilliant “Organ” Symphony crowns the program.

BSO’s Symphony in Your City
Thursday, February 3, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Cultural Arts Center, Montgomery College
7995 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Jonathan Rush, conductor

 

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About Strathmore

 
About the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
For over a century, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has been recognized as one of America’s leading orchestras and one of Maryland’s most significant cultural institutions. The orchestra is internationally renowned and locally admired for its innovation, performances, recordings, and educational outreach initiatives including OrchKids.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs annually for more than 275,000 people throughout the State of Maryland. Since 1982, the BSO has performed at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, and since 2005, with the opening of The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD, the BSO became the nation’s first orchestra performing its full season of classical and pops concerts in two metropolitan areas. More information about the BSO can be found at BSOmusic.org.

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