Marietta-based Georgia Symphony Orchestra (GSO) announced its upcoming schedule on the City of Marietta website.

The announcement is reprinted below:

MARIETTA – Much more than just an orchestra, the Georgia Symphony organization has announced its 2022 – 2023 season schedule for its orchestral, choral, jazz, holiday, sensory friendly and youth music education program performances. New this year is the addition of Sunday afternoon matinees to the concert schedule.

On Sept. 10 and 11, 2022, GSO Music Director and Conductor Timothy Verville will lead the Symphony’s Classic Series’ dynamic season opener, Brass Splash, which includes Mexican composer Arturo Marquez’s Danzon No. 7, Gustav Mahler’s Blumine, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 and Giuseppe Verdi’s Overture to Nabucco. 

At the series’ Feb. 25 and 26, 2023, performance, entitled You Shall Hear.., the GSO Chorus, led by Music Director Bryan Black, will join the orchestra to pay tribute to renowned Black composers. The concert will feature Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s celebrated cantata, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast and Concert Overture No. 2 by Florence Price. A composition co-written by Verville and guest artist, cellist and songwriter Okorie “OkCello” Johnson, will premiere at the event.

Black also will lead the GSO Chorus, along with the Uzee Brown Society of Choraliers, in Walk Together Children, a special choral performance, on October 8 and 9, 2022. 

The GSO’s Classic Series concludes on May 20 and 21, 2023, with a performance of Carl Orff’s powerful Carmina Burana, featuring the GSO Chorus and youth symphony chorus. Johannes Brahms’ Academie Festival Overture and Claude Debussy’s Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune will complete the program.

Additionally, on Dec. 3 and 4, 2022, Verville will lead the GSO’s beloved seasonal favorite Holiday Pops concert, along with the GSO Chorus and featured soloist Kayce Grogan-Wallace, a Marietta native. 

In keeping with its commitment to bringing live classical music to members of the region’s underserved communities, the GSO has added performances to its annual Sensory Friendly Concert series. The series, which is designed specifically for individuals with sensory sensitivities and their families, will offer morning and afternoon performances on Oct. 15, 2022 and April 15, 2023. Concertgoers are encouraged to be themselves and move around, clap, dance or vocalize during the 50-minute performance. A pre-concert Instrument ‘Petting Zoo’ and a Quiet Room also are provided.

GSO Classic Series, Holiday Pops and Sensory Friendly concerts take place at either the Marietta Performing Arts Center or the Dr. Bobbie Bailey and Family Performance Center at Kennesaw State University.

The organization’s GSO Jazz! ensemble, led by Music Director Sam Skelton, will once again delight audiences with two performances this season at Marietta’s historic Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theater. At the Samba at the Strand concert on Feb. 4 and 5, 2023, the group will highlight rhythmic samba music of well-known Brazilian composers. In contrast, GSO Jazz!’s April 15 and 16, 2023, performance will feature the electrifying, contemporary and high-energy big-band sounds of The Radiohead Jazz Project. Commissioned by the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, this 15-song set was put together by 12 incredible arrangers. 

The GSO also is the parent organization of the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestras, the largest youth musical education program in the Southeast and one of the top 10 largest in the nation. GYSO’s 13 ensembles serve musically talented elementary through high school students throughout the metro Atlanta region. All GYSO performances are held at KSU’s Bailey Performance Center and are open to the public. For the 2022-23 season, GYSO concerts are scheduled to take place on Oct. 16, Oct. 23 and Dec. 11, 2022, and Feb. 5, March 5, May 7 and May 14, 2023.

Season subscription packages will go on sale to the general public on June 13, 2022. For detailed subscription pricing and seating information, or to purchase a subscription, visit subscriptions.georgiasymphony.org. Individual tickets for all performances will go on sale on July 25, 2022, at tickets.georgiasymphony.org.

About the Georgia Symphony Orchestra

The Georgia Symphony Orchestra began in 1951 with the formation of the Marietta Music Club.

According to the GSO website:

The music room of Arthur F. Moor’s home on 383 Church Street in Marietta would establish the foundations for what would evolve over the next sixty-plus years. Talented local musicians would come together to create and share wonderful music with audiences. From 1955 until 1989, Betty Shipman Bennett conducted the orchestra through this long period of development. The music club grew to become the Marietta Community Symphony.

The orchestra was later renamed the Cobb Symphony as more professional musicians were added to the staff, and in 2011 it became the Georgia Symphony Orchestra.

The GSO states as its mission:

The mission of the Georgia Symphony Orchestra is to enrich our community through accessible, high quality musical and educational experiences that instill a lifelong appreciation for the arts.