The talents of the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Christopher Wilkins will be center stage during a 2019-20 concert season filled with audience favorites and works by influential female composers.

The schedule overflows with well-known blockbusters highlighting the talents of the Orchestra – including Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Mozart’s Requiem and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances – along with favorite symphonies of Mahler, Haydn and Schubert.

The season also explores the music of several female composers – including Joan Tower, the 2019 recipient of the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton, the organization’s highest honor; Florence Price, who often drew on the popular music of her African-American heritage; and Ethel Smyth, the first female composer to have an opera performed by the Metropolitan Opera – as part of a yearlong recognition of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment.

“I am tremendously excited about next season’s repertoire, which is filled with wonderful, recognizable and celebrated music,” said Wilkins, who is entering his 14th season as music director. “We also have an emphasis on works that hit a different note, including a dance night featuring a Korean three-drum dance and a theatrical night based on the music of Shakespeare. Finally, we are giving voice to female composers and other composers who are typically underrepresented in the traditional canon.”

Our Classic Series season opens on September 21 as guest conductor Benjamin Zander returns to lead the Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. This concert, which was snowed out in January, will also include guest pianist Alexander Korsantia.

Additional highlights of the Classic Series include:

• Walton’s rousing and noble Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario, part of Symphonic Shakespeare, with the Akron Symphony Chorus on October 19
• Vivaldi’s illustrative composition for violin, The Four Seasons, on November 16
• Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, including its famous Adagietto, a musical love poem to his wife, Alma, on January 18
• Mozart’s Requiem, the composer’s final masterpiece, with the Akron Symphony Chorus on February 22
• Copland’s idyllic imagining of America, Appalachian Spring, on March 28
• Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, a powerhouse of orchestral virtuosity, on May 16

In addition to the Classic Series, the Akron Symphony also presents the ever-popular Home for the Holidays concert on December 13, and Gospel Meets Symphony, a Northeast Ohio tradition since 1994, on February 8.

The best way not to miss a note is to become a season subscriber. Patrons who subscribe enjoy steep discounts on a full season of concerts, guaranteed seats, a 10 percent discount on additional single ticket purchases, and a flexible ticket exchange program.

Subscription packages for the seven-concert Classic Series start as low as $140. To subscribe, call the Akron Symphony Box Office at 330.535.8131 or visit our Classic Series Subscription page. Flex Subscriptions, starting at $80, are also available.

All concerts take place at E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall, located on the campus of The University of Akron.