Jacksonville Symphony Blog

The Jacksonville Symphony Celebrates Different American Voices with Gershwin, Simon and Copland By Matt Bickett The Jacksonville Symphony celebrated the close of its historic seventy-fifth season on June 6 and 7 with an all-American program under Music Director Courtney Lewis’s baton. Presenting programmatic works by George Gershwin and Carlos Simon along with Aaron Copland’s third symphony, the Symphony’s celebration reassured as it … Read More

The Jacksonville Symphony Takes on Mozart’s Classics with Nartadjieva and Kuo By Matt Bickett “Classical music” has always held a handful of meanings. Your middle school chorus teacher was likely quick to remind you that it’s not just a genre on Spotify. “Classical refers to the period in music history after the Baroque and before the Romantic,” she might say, distinguishing … Read More

The Jacksonville Symphony Celebrates Spring in a Program of Debussy, Tao, and Stravinsky By Matt Bickett In the warm sun of spring, ice falls from the wintery trees, crashing down as the once-frozen ground cracks opens. Nature announces the arrival of this season’s listless heat with violent sounds—at least in colder climates, as Courtney Lewis, Music Director of the Jacksonville … Read More

Jacksonville Symphony Reveres Classical Music’s Greats in Performances of Barber, Sibelius and Beethoven In reverent performances, the Jacksonville Symphony admired the careers of some of classical music’s greats Friday and Saturday nights. The characterful and dynamic program saw the Symphony and conductor Courtney Lewis welcome special guest pianist Barry Douglas for a sturdy rendition of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto … Read More

The Jacksonville Symphony Danced the Night Away with Beethoven and Rachmaninoff Look inside any beehive and you’ll find bees dancing for one another. Wiggling and waggling, bees dance to share the location of nearby pollen in relation to the sun and the hive. In much the same way, Theseus, an ancient Greek hero, danced the Crane Dance to show young Athenians how … Read More

The Jacksonville Symphony presented an enjoyable and heady program in two concerts over Friday and Saturday nights. The Marcus Roberts Trio joined the orchestra, bringing an electric presence to the stage, while renowned conductor Robert Spano gathered the ensembles together with grace and intensity. The combined musical results conveyed an especially urgent message of collaboration. Through this weekend’s performance of … Read More

Jacksonville Symphony’s Cinematic-Scale Encounter with Vaughan Williams, Dvořák and Lam In an attempt to inspire movie-goers back to the cinema post-COVID-19, the theater chain AMC Theatres showed an uncharacteristic but now widely popular commercial before its movies. Nicole Kidman, the star of the ad, describes the film-viewing experience with a candor and focused drama that resonated across generations—earnestly with older … Read More

Jacksonville Symphony Celebrates the Season with Britten, Sibelius and Elgar The Jacksonville Symphony ushered in Northeast Florida’s season of sweater weather this weekend with two concerts on their Florida Blue Classical Series. After a week with temperatures dipping into the 50s, the Symphony performed masterworks from even colder climates, including Benjamin Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” and … Read More

Jacksonville Symphony brings VIPs to the stage in Classical Series opener On the heels of Hurricane Helene’s devastating arrival and departure, a sizable audience gathered at Jacoby Symphony Hall for an evening of moving music. The Jacksonville Symphony continued its celebration of its 75th anniversary season on Friday and Saturday nights with a knack for assembling a cast of musical … Read More