Spokane Symphony announces 79th season lineup for 2024-25

The Spokane Symphony has announced its 79th season, which will bring both new friends and old favorites to the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox.

“In the ceaseless noise of modernity, it’s easy to lose ourselves,” music director James Lowe says in a press release. “Yet, the symphony offers a sanctuary to disconnect from distractions and reconnect with our core. Join us and find yourself at the symphony!”

The 2024-25 season opens, as is tradition, with the Symphony’s free Labor Day Weekend concerts, Aug. 31 at Liberty Lake Pavillion Park and Sept. 2 at Comstock Park.

The first Masterworks concert of the season, The Turning World (Sept. 14-15), features pianist Awadagin Pratt. He joins Lowe and the symphony on Jessie Montgomery’s “Rounds" for piano and string orchestra. Pratt performed on the composition's recording, which landed Montgomery the 2024 Grammy for best contemporary classical composition.

The Masterworks series also includes Beethoven vs. A.I. (Jan. 18-19), which will find the symphony performing the third movement of Beethoven’s unfinished Tenth Symphony, as completed by artificial intelligence and Austrian composer Walter Werzowa.

Masterworks 5: Daybreak of Freedom (Feb. 1-2) celebrates William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony and Joseph Schwantner’s New Morning for the World (Daybreak of Freedom), to which he set excerpts of speeches by Martin Luther King Jr.

And Masterworks 6: L.A. Stories (March 1-2) sees the Spokane Symphony debut of Los Angeles-based conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg, who will lead the symphony and guest violinist Gabrielle Després through works by Antonín Dvořák, Erich Korngold and Quinn Mason.

The Pops series, meanwhile, opens with “What a Wonderful World: Legends of New Orleans!” (Sept. 28) featuring Byron Stripling paying tribute to some of NOLA’s most notable. The series also includes TikTok star and Grammy-nominated singer Cody Fry (Nov. 9), the music of James Bond (March 15) and Spokane favorites Pink Martini on their 30th anniversary tour (April 5-6).

The symphony’s holiday season is packed, as usual, with performances of Handel’s Messiah (Nov. 21-23), the Nutcracker with State Street Ballet (Dec. 5-8), In the Christmas Mood with the Glenn Miller Orchestra (Dec. 10), Pops 3: Christmas at the Movies (Dec. 21-22) and Beethoven’s Ninth on New Year’s Eve.

And, of course, there will be plenty of opportunities to make the symphony a family affair, including the Music of Harry Potter and Other Halloween Favorites (Oct. 26-27) and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (May 3-4, 2025).

Special events for the 2024-25 season also include An Evening with Jess Walter and the Spokane Symphony, which was rescheduled from this month to Sept. 21, and Valentine’s Day with the Spokane Symphony (Feb. 14), during which DJ Rosethrow and the symphony perform Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed, a twist on the composer’s Four Seasons.

There are also several opportunities to experience the symphony up close and personal during Chamber Soirée at the Davenport (Oct. 16-17, Jan. 22-23, and April 16-17) and Masterworks and Mimosas (Sept. 5, March 29 and April 26).

Visit foxtheaterspokane.org for the complete season lineup. Season subscriptions are available now, and season ticketholders have until July 19 to renew their seats, either online or by calling the box office at 509-624-1200. Single tickets go on sale to the general public on Aug. 16.