Jacksonville Symphony gears up for season

Courtney Lewis, Conducting Electricity

Courtney Lewis, Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony   The summer months are some of my favorites of the year. Ironically, time away from the Symphony gives me the opportunity to learn new music and absorb all the scores for the coming season. What the audience hears at a concert is like the tip of the iceberg: most of the preparation … Read More

Jacksonville Symphony leader bound for Paris

Courtney Lewis, Conducting Electricity

Courtney Lewis, Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony This weekend, I head to France to spend six weeks conducting a very exciting new ballet with music by the English composer, Thomas Adès, for the Opéra national de Paris at the famous Palais Garnier. Inspired by Dante Alighieri’s 14th century epic poem, “The Divine Comedy,” “The Dante Project” is a rarity … Read More

A Feast for Your Eyes and Ears: The Magic Flute

Courtney Lewis, Conducting Electricity

Courtney Lewis, Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony In a few weeks the Jacksonville Symphony will present our largest production of the season, The Magic Flute, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s perennially popular opera. It’s my favorite Mozart opera, a fairy tale of good versus evil, enlightenment versus ignorance and the journey of finding your own way in the world. After the … Read More

Music For You: The Jacksonville Symphony Premieres Another New Commission

Courtney Lewis

Courtney Lewis, Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony, Haskell Endowed Chair Last season, the Jacksonville Symphony began a series of new commissions from today’s brightest composers. Building on the legacy of our Composer in Residence program in 2018, this series is very close to my heart. I think of the tradition of classical music as continuous and unbroken from the … Read More

The Jacksonville Symphony Casts Operatic Enchantment With ‘The Magic Flute’

Behind the Scenes, Courtney Lewis, Conducting Electricity

Courtney Lewis, Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony, Haskell Endowed Chair On April 28 and 30, the Jacksonville Symphony will present one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most beloved and famous operas, “The Magic Flute.” The two performances will be the culmination of several years of planning and preparation, and the Symphony’s largest production of the season. This is the story … Read More

Jacksonville Symphony Extends Contract with Music Director Courtney Lewis

Courtney Lewis

Jacksonville Symphony Extends Contract with Music Director Courtney Lewis   The Jacksonville Symphony proudly announces that Courtney Lewis, Music Director, and the Board of Directors have agreed to extend his contract through June 30, 2027. Lewis has served as the Jacksonville Symphony’s Music Director since 2015, a position permanently endowed by Haskell in 2009. This will be his third contract … Read More

Schumann’s heartbreaking Second one of Lewis’ favorites

Program Spotlight, Courtney Lewis, Conducting ElectricityLeave a Comment

When I’m asked the impossible question, “What’s your favorite symphony”, I usually refuse to answer, but inside my head a voice always cries out: Schumann’s Second! Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was the archetypal Romantic: he loved poetry as much as music, couldn’t decide whether to be a musician or a writer, married another artist (the great pianist Clara Wieck), struggled with … Read More

Mozart, MacMillan pieces will challenge symphony

Program Spotlight, Courtney Lewis, Conducting ElectricityLeave a Comment

I know I speak for all the musicians and staff at the Jacksonville Symphony when I say we are delighted to be back onstage performing. I’m especially looking forward to our program on Nov. 13-14, which features works by Mozart and the Scottish composer James MacMillan. MacMillan is Scotland’s leading composer, having been in the public eye since the late … Read More