Charleston Symphony announces 2013-14 season lineup: Candidates for music director to conduct Masterworks concerts

The Charleston Symphony Orchestra, enjoying a popular resurgence, has announced programming for its 2013-14 season.

Next season is a pivotal time for the symphony. It will select its new music director based on guest appearances by six candidates for the job, each of whom will conduct a concert in the Masterworks Series.

The symphony once again will feature a Pops, Chamber and Masterworks series but will add a performance to each due to high demand.

This year, the symphony moved into the Sottile Theatre while the Gaillard Auditorium is replaced with a concert hall.

The Sottile, which seats about 750, has been selling out two performances regularly. The Chamber Series, held at the Dock Street Theatre, also has been selling out. For the 2013-14 season, six chamber concerts will be offered.

Pops concerts, which just a couple of years ago attracted meager audiences, have become so popular that the symphony is adding a fourth performance of each concert next year.

A Pops show, the Latin-themed Fiesta, led by conductor and arranger James Stephenson, will open the new season Oct. 4 and 5 at the Sottile Theatre. Dancers from Charleston Dancefx will join musicians on stage.

Also on tap for Pops is a Broadway and popular music show, a holiday concert and a Valentine’s Day special featuring musical romance.

The Charleston Chamber Orchestra Series will begin selling reserved seats instead of general admission tickets and will feature guest artists as well as CSO musicians. A popular “Time Machine” program will include a little show-and-tell from the stage and feature the music of Tchaikovsky.

The chamber orchestra also will perform music of Mozart, Dvorak, Bach and Mendelssohn during the course of the series.

“I am particularly excited about the commission of a piece for string orchestra and string quartet by Charleston’s own Edward Hart,” Concertmaster and acting Artistic Director Yuriy Bekker said. “The series will include some stellar guest artists such as (violinist) Solomiya Ivakhiv and feature our own CSO musicians as soloists.”

Much attention will be paid to the Masterworks Series, for one of the six guest conductors likely will become the symphony’s new music director.

Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony is slated for Oct. 17-19; Sibelius’ Second Symphony is on tap for Nov. 14-16; Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique will ring through the Sottile on Jan. 9-11; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, the “Pathetique,” is scheduled for Feb. 6-8; Stravinsky’s Firebird is programmed for March 13-15, 2014; and Saint-Saens’ Third Symphony, known as the Organ Symphony, will close out the series April 3-5, 2014.

The candidates are:

Michael Butterman, music director for both the Boulder (Colo.) Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shreveport (La.) Symphony Orchestra.

Ken Lam, winner of the 2011 Memphis (Tenn.) International Conducting Competition, resident conductor of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina and artistic director of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orches-tras.

Lawrence Loh, resident conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Sean Newhouse, who has served as music director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles, associate conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Perry So, one of the inaugural Dudamel Conducting Fellows at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and associate conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Christopher Wilkins, music director of the Orlando (Fla.) Philharmonic, Akron (Ohio) Symphony and Boston Landmarks Orchestra.

“It was a pleasure for me to start getting to know the candidates by choosing the repertoire with them,” Bekker said. “I asked them to give me three choices of symphonies that would best describe their artistic style and vision. While we chose the concertos and soloists, the candidates chose the symphonies and overtures.”

The music director search committee, made up of CSO musicians, board members, community leaders and advisory staff, narrowed the field to these musicians. Audiences at the Masterworks concerts will be invited to provide feedback about the candidates’ performances.

The Charleston Symphony is taking subscription orders. Renewing subscribers from 2012-13 will receive priority seating. Individual concert tickets will go on sale in the fall.

Call CSO patron services at 723-7528, ext. 110.