Vajda, who graduated from the Liszt Academy of Music?s clarinet department, is replacing the Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto in Huntsville.
The season will open on October 1, World Music Day, with a programme of Sibelius?s Finlandia, Rachmaninoff?s Piano Concerto No. 2, featuring the soloist Dubravka Tomsic, and Bartók?s Concerto for Orchestra.
At a concert in November, serenades such as Wagner?s Siegfried Idyll will be in the focus.
An overture fantasy based on Vajda?s own one-act opera Barbie Blue will be performed in December. Stravinsky?s Firebird Suite, Weber?s Overture to Oberon and Mendelssohn?s Violin Concerto, with the Finnish soloist Elina Vähälä, will round out the concert.
In addition to six evenings of classics, concerts of popular classics, concerts targeted at younger audiences, free family events and a special New Year?s Eve concert will be part of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra?s 2011-2012 season.
Vajda will spend at least ten weeks in Huntsville to fulfil his mandate. He will spend another ten weeks in the United States for the Music in the Mountains festival.
?Last year I was only in charge of conducting the programme but this year I?m also in charge of putting together the programme. As everywhere in the world, the money available ended up being slightly less than needed. As a result, I had to make sure that the programme generates the necessary revenue from ticket sales, that sponsorship funding is well spent and that the works will attract audiences in this part of California,? Vajda said.
This year marked the festival?s 30th year. The programme included three performances of classics, including Liszt?s Second Piano Concerto played by James Dick and the West Coast premiere of Vajda?s composition Csárdás Onstiné, which was also a tribute to the 200th anniversary of Liszt?s birth. A dinner concert featured chamber music, including Ernő Dohnányi?s Sextet in which Vajda played the clarinet.
?I invited the Cirque de la Symphonie ensemble which had appeared at several sold-out shows I conducted in Seattle. They include acrobats, jugglers and tumblers performing to classical music. Some highly renowned orchestras have invited them to contribute because they also attract audiences that would otherwise not buy tickets for Beethoven or Liszt,? Vajda said.
Vajda, who has worked for the city of Portland?s orchestra for seven years said that even before he took the post with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, he had told his employers he would be leaving
?I?ve had enough of being a resident conductor,? he said.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
