Philadelphia Orchestra Debut

Passionate about the repertoire he performs, Payare chooses works that resonate with him personally and help him connect with both orchestras and audiences. Dvořák is one of the composers in whose music the conductor has already made his mark. At the Blossom Music Festival this past summer, he made his Cleveland Orchestra debut with a performance of the “New World” Symphony that was “ablaze with color” (Cleveland Classical), after joining the Montreal Symphony earlier this year for “an inspiring and emotional concert” that he “directed with intensity and strength.” As Bachtrack’s five-star review continued, the program concluded with an account of Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony in which the conductor “controlled the proceedings through his careful choice of a moderate tempo, allowing the effective structure to unfold with an inevitability that was hugely impressive.”

Now Dvořák’s Seventh is the vehicle for Payare’s first guest conducting engagement of the fall. Marking his eagerly anticipated Philadelphia Orchestra debut, the symphony will be bookended by Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and the world premiere of a new Clarinet Concerto by Jacob Bancks, whose accolades include honors from the National Endowment for the Arts and American Academy of Arts and Letters. A Philadelphia Orchestra co-commission, Bancks’s concerto features the ensemble’s principal clarinetist, Latin Grammy nominee Ricardo Morales, as soloist (Nov 11–13).

Photo: J Henry Fair