Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra executive director Jessica Mallow Gulley, who led the group through both a pandemic and its centennial celebrations, can now present a full season of nearly 20 events with a clean slate. It starts September 24 with a KSO Masterworks concert featuring James Lee III emotional changes, by Ravel Scheherazade (not to be confused with the work of Rimsky-Korsakov), and that of Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4.
Co-conceived with Montreal music director Julian Kuerti, Mallow Gulley will oversee Craft Music’s return to Bell’s Eccentric Cafe, a new chamber music series featuring KSO musicians and guest artists in jazz, classical and modern pieces, pre-concert panels for curious spectators and presentations of timeless masterpieces, including a Bruckner symphony and Brahms’ German Requiem. The season builds on collaborative partnerships with the Kalamazoo Bach Festival, the Stulberg International String Competition and regional jazz artist Rufus Ferguson, among others.
Mallow Gulley shares highlights of the new season with Cara Lieurance, and Maestro Kuerti speaks by phone from Argentina, where he recently conducted at Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires’ main opera house.
