Lubbock Symphony Orchestra

Yo-Yo Ma Headlines Lubbock Symphony’s All Dvořák Program

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th June 2024

It’s been 12 years since Yo-Yo Ma appeared as a guest artist with the LSO. His return last night was greeted with extravagant enthusiasm by a sold-out audience at the Buddy Holly Hall. The entire program was devoted to the music of Antonin Dvořák. The program’s first half consisted of two Slavonic Dances, the finale…

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LSO Pre Concert Talk

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd April 2023

Linked below is a Powerpoint presentation of a talk I gave yesterday before the Lubbock Symphony’s performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto #1 followed by Shchedrin’s arrangement of Bizet’s Carmen for String Orchestra, Timpani, and Percussion. If you wish to make use of this presentation, download all the files to the same folder. You must have…

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LSO Performs Shostakovich and Shchedrin

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th March 2023

On April 22 the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra will perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 1. The soloist will be Cliburn winner Kenny Broberg. He will be joined by trumpeter Will Strieder. The second half of the evening’s program will present Rodion Shchedrin’s adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen For String Orchestra and Percussion. Tickets can be purchased…

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LSO 2022 Madama Butterfly Photos

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th December 2022

On November 11th of this year, the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra presented a semi-staged performance of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. The cast is below. The link will lead you to a collection of photos I took during the dress rehearsal the day before the performance. Click on the thumbnails to see the whole photo. The picture above…

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Madama Butterfly – Program Notes

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th October 2022

Below are the program notes I wrote for the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming performance of Madama Butterfly – Nov 11. The final version of the notes that appears in the program may be an edited version of what’s below. The four principals are: Cio-Cio-San: Yunah LeeSuzuki: Kristen ChoiPinkerton: Bryan HymelSharpless: Zachary Nelson Few works of art have both…

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La Bohème – Lubbock Symphony Orchestra

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th May 2017

The following link will take to photos of the dress rehearsal of the LSO’s performance of La Bohème – La Bohème Pictures. The cast is below. The next link is to a PowerPoint presentation I gave before each performance. In order to hear the musical illustrations you will need the complete folder that has the…

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La Bohème Program Notes

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd April 2017

The Lubbock Symphony Orchestra will present two concert performances of Puccini’s opera on May 5-6. The program notes I’ve written for the occasion are below. Puccini’s La Bohème is one of the very few operas that have transcended its genre. Virtually everyone loves it, even those who are indifferent to opera. First performed in 1896…

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Joshua Bell Opens Lubbock Symphony Orchestra Season

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th September 2016

I don’t usually write about the Lubbock Symphony as I am too close to the orchestra to be objective, but this show was too good to pass without comment. Joshua Bell was the soloist in the opening the LSO’s 2016-17 season; its 70th. He played the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in the second half of the…

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The Verdi Requiem

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd October 2015

The Lubbock Symphony Orchestra will present Verdi’s Messa da Requiem on October 16 and 17 at the Civic Center Theater. The program notes that I wrote for the occasion are below. Giuseppe Verdi thought that 19th century Italy had produced two cultural giants – Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) and Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873). The former literally invented…

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