The Southwest Florida Symphony presents the next Pops Concert of its 55th season: Lights, Camera, Orchestra!
The Southwest Florida Symphony, Lee County’s professional orchestra and one of the oldest symphony orchestras on Florida’s gulf coast, presents the next Pops Concert of its 55th season, Lights, Camera, Orchestra! on Friday, Feb. 5, and Saturday, Feb. 6. For this concert, the Southwest Florida Symphony welcomes principal conductor of the Star Wars in Concert World Tour, music director for the Film Festival Ghent and music director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Maestro Dirk Bross, to the podium.
From Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer to the latest episode of Star Wars, every epic of the Silver Screen has been enriched by memorable music. Join us on the red carpet for an evening of outstanding Oscar-winning music from the entire history of motion pictures. At Lights, Camera Orchestra: A Night at the Oscars. Maestro Bross will expertly transport audiences to the silver screen and the Academy Awards’ red carpet through the magic of symphonic music. Tickets range from $24 to $84 and may be purchased at the Southwest Florida Symphony Box Office by calling 239-418-1500 or visiting in person, online at WWW.SWFLSO.ORG and at all performance venues.
Dirk Bross Bio
Dirk Bross, born in Ghent, Belgium, in 1960, is a multi-faceted composer and a respected conductor on the international music scene. He is currently Music Director of
‘The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia’, Music Director of the Filmfestival Ghent and Music Director and principal conductor of the ‘Star Wars in Concert World Tour’.
He began his music studies at the Music Conservatories of Ghent and Brussels. He subsequently specialised in conducting, which he studied in Maastricht, Vienna and Cologne. Alongside his many guest professorships, he is currently Professor of composition and conducting at the School of Arts / Royal Conservatory of Music in Ghent.
Dirk Bross has conducted all the leading Belgian orchestras, among them, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Flemish Opera and the National Orchestra of Belgium.
Outside his native Belgium, he has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Shanghai, the Vancouver Opera, the KBS Symphony Orchestra of South Korea, l’ Orchestra de l’Opra de Lyon, the World Symphony Orchestra (Japan), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Ulster Symphony Orchestra of Northern Ireland, the Camerata St Petersburg, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Orchestras of Venezuela and Ecuador.
Dirk Bross is a versatile and prolific composer. He has written some 200 works, including concerti, oratorios, lieder, chamber music and symphonic works, that have been performed all over the world and have been recorded in more than 40 countries. His most important works are ‘La Soledad de Amrica Latina’, written in collaboration with the Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, ‘Artesia’, a universal symphony for orchestra and ethnic instruments, the ethno-classical symphony ‘The Birth of Music’, the oratorio ‘Juanelo’, the lieder cycles ‘Landuyt Cycle’ and ‘La vida es un Sueo’, the ‘War Concerto’ for clarinet and orchestra, and the violin concertos ‘Black, White & Between’, ‘Sophia’ and ‘Echoes of Silent Voices’.
In 2010, at the request of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, he wrote ‘The Hallow-e’en Dances’. This Halloween-inspired work is specially written for age-old, traditional Chinese instruments. He is currently working on a guitar concerto.
Besides this, on numerous occasions, Dirk Bross has composed for the theatre and the cinema. His best-known soundtracks are ‘Koko Flanel’, ‘Licht’, Stijn Coninx’s ‘de Kavijaks’ and ‘Daens’ (Academy Award Nominee, 1993), Marian Handwerker’s ‘Marie’, Martin Koolhoven’s ‘Knetter’, and Jaques Feyder’s 1925 silent film ‘Visages d’Enfants’. He wrote the scores for the musicals ‘Sacco & Vanzetti’, ‘The Prince of Africa’, ‘Tintin The Temple of the Sun’ (based on Herg’s world-famous cartoon character Tintin), ‘Rembrandt, the Musical’, and ‘Musical Daens’, each time in close collaboration with Frank Van Laecke.
In 2007 Dirk Bross made his debut in the Royal Albert Hall, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in ‘A Night of Music from the Movies’, featuring the music of Patrick Doyle, with guest appearances by such renowned actors as Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh.
Dirk Bross has made more than 60 CD recordings and has conducted in numerous world-famous concert halls, such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican Centre and the Royal Albert Hall in London, la Monnaie in Brussels, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Seoul Arts Center, the Tokyo Forum and the Concert Hall Shanghai.
He has collaborated with world-class artistes such as Jos Van Dam, Philip Webb, Barbara Hendricks, Claron McFadden, Julia Migenes, Derek Lee Ragin, Sabine Meyer, Julian Lloyd Webber, Daniel Blumenthal, Salvatore Accardo and, on a broader musical platform, with John Williams, Toots Thielemans, Hans Zimmer, Elmer Bernstein, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Randy Crawford, Lisa Gerrard, Mel Brooks, Maurane, Sinead O’ Connor, Viktor Lazlo, Maurice Jarre and Youssou N’Dour.
Dirk Bross has been awarded the title “Cultural Ambassador of Flanders”. He has received numerous prizes, among them, the Flemish Government’s ‘Gouden Erepenning’ award for merit and the prestigious Achiel Van Acker Award. He is an Advisory Board Member of the independent think tank ‘Itinera Institute’. Since 2010 Dirk Bross has been a Freeman of the town of Destelbergen.
Southwest Florida Symphony General Information
The Southwest Florida Symphony is the only professional orchestra in Lee County and the one of the oldest on Florida’s gulf coast. It enters its 55th season this year, having made its debut as a community orchestra on April 15, 1961. Conducted by Arlo Deibler, the Symphony began its life as a community orchestra and its original roster consisted of 24 musicians. It performed in community centers and schools throughout Lee and Collier Counties. It has since grown to become Lee County’s only professional symphony orchestra, filling Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall with symphonic music enthusiasts and a roster consisting of more than 65 world-class musicians. The Southwest Florida Symphony’s 55th year promises to be a season of continued enthusiasm as internationally acclaimed Maestro Nir Kabaretti leads the symphony into another season of blockbuster performances. Maestro Kabaretti is the fifth music director in the organization’s history. His presence and caliber of musicality garnered record setting attendance at many of the symphony’s 2014-15 Masterworks Concerts. The Southwest Florida Symphony’s mission is to celebrate the joy of music and to inspire audiences with a variety of quality concerts performed by professional musicians that are accessible to all.
This season features the Southwest Florida Symphony’s signature Masterworks Classical Concert Series, entitled A Symphonic Storybook (Nov. 21, Carmina Burana; Jan. 23, One Thousand and One Nights; Feb.13, Love Triangle; March 5, A Night at the Opera; and April 2 & 3, The Shakespeare Experience), a special Holiday Pops concert entitled The Holidays in Paradise on December 16 & 17 at Flagler College in St. Augustine, December 19 at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, Dec. 20 at BIG ARTS on Sanibel and Dec. 21 at The Village Church at Shell Point; its Pops Series (Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration on Jan. 8 & 9; A Night at the Oscars on Feb.5 & 6; and My Sinatra on April 2 & 3), a chamber series called Small Stage Symphonies?, performed at BIG ARTS on Sanibel Island (Jan. 13, Feb.3 and March 24), Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape Coral (Aug. 12, 2015, Jan. 15 and March 22), The Village Church at Shell Point (Aug. 13, 2015, Jan.14 and Feb. 4), and at the Sidney & Berne Davis Arts Center (August 14, 2015 and March 23).
Maestro Nir Kabaretti bio
Nir Kabaretti spends his second season with the Southwest Florida Symphony this year while he continues to serve as the Santa Barbara Symphony’s Music Director in California. He enters his tenth season with Santa Barbara this year. He has been described as “a conductor with immense musicality and warm personality” by Maestro Zubin Mehta. Kabaretti has earned an impressive reputation across continents for his command of a vast symphonic and operatic repertoire.
Upon graduation from the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Kabaretti began working as coach and Chorus Master at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival. He later advanced to positions as Assistant to the Music Director at the Teatro Real in Madrid and Personal Assistant to Maestro Zubin Mehta at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy.
Nir Kabaretti has worked with some of the world’s most sought-after musicians, such as Lang Lang, Placido Domingo, Itzhak Perlman, and Hlne Grimaud. His guest conducting appearances have included the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires, Orquestre National du Theatre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, La Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, Real Orquesta Sinfnica de Sevilla, La Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria and the Bochumer Symphoniker.
He was appointed Principal Conductor of the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra in Israel in 2002, and later as its Music Director till 2008.
Kabaretti’s operatic experience includes productions at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Real in Madrid, The Israeli Opera, Opra de Lausanne, Avenches Opera Festival in Switzerland, Tokyo New National Theatre and Opera Santa Barbara.
He conducted The Diary of Anne Frank, a guest production of the Vienna State Opera performed at both the Bregenz Festival and Expo 2000 in Hannover. In 2005, Kabaretti lead Teatro San Carlo di Napoli on its first tour to Japan, conducting Il Trovatore both in Kyoto and Tokyo.
During the 2004-05 season he made his debut at Teatro alla Scala di Milano. In 2007 he was invited again for the ballet production of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer night’s Dream (broadcasted by Italian television RAI, and released as a commercial DVD).
Maestro Kabaretti received the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Grant for Young Conductors. In 1993, he won the Forum Junger Knstler Conducting Competition in Vienna. In 1994 he was among the finalists in the International Competition for Conductors in Douai, France.
Southwest Florida Symphony Sponsors
The Southwest Florida Symphony’s 2015-16 sponsors include The Southwest Florida Symphony’s Board of Trustees, The Southwest Florida Symphony Society, The Southwest Florida Community Foundation, The City of Fort Myers, The State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, The Florida Council on Arts & Culture, The Southwest Florida Symphony Endowment Foundation, The L.A.T. Foundation, Uhler & Vertich Financial Planners, Enterprise Rent-a-car, IberiaBank, The Neil Goldberg Dream Foundation, Rev. Gary & Mrs. Christine LaCroix, Mr. Charles B. Munsch, Mr. Don Fjellin, Eric Diefenbach & J.K. Brown, Ernie Fogg & Margot Flinn,’Tween Waters Inn, Bailey’s General Store, Sanibel Captiva Community Bank, Crowne Plaza, Mastello Ristorante, Advanced Pain Management and Spine Specialists, Alexander & Hoover, LCEC, The Cape Coral Community Foundation, The Friends of the Symphony on Sanibel, Mr. & Mrs. Steve and Charlotte Qua, Pamela Templeton and the Red Lipstick Foundation, Suncoast Schools Credit Union, The Foulds Foundation, Sheeley Architects, Madeleine Taeni and Mark Loren Designs.