Renowned cellist Zuill Bailey to perform with symphony

Cellist Zuill Bailey, shown, will perform Camille Saint-Saëns' "Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor" with the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, at the Perot Theatre in Texarkana, Texas. (zuillebailey.com)
Cellist Zuill Bailey, shown, will perform Camille Saint-Saëns' "Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor" with the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, at the Perot Theatre in Texarkana, Texas. (zuillebailey.com)


TEXARKANA, Texas — World-renowned cellist Zuill Bailey will join the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra to begin the fall season, titled “Choose Joy.”

Bailey’s performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor,” along with two other pieces, will be “the kind of season opener I wish we would have every year,” said Philip Mann, TSO music director and conductor.

The concerto “is a gorgeous, colorful, beautiful piece. If someone hasn’t heard a cello concerto before, this is a wonderful first opportunity,” he said.

Bailey has performed and recorded with symphonies and other ensembles worldwide and was a 2016 Grammy Award-winner. A graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the Juilliard School, he is artistic director of multiple music festivals and series, and he is professor of cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.

He also has a long-standing relationship with Texarkana. As a National Federation of Music Clubs contest winner in his student years, Bailey performed with TSO, Mann said.

“Since that time, he’s had a regular relationship that he has maintained with the orchestra. I think that’s a special thing for him with his past and it’s certainly a special thing for the orchestra and our community. So I can’t wait to share the stage with Zuill,” Mann said.

Rounding out the program will be Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s “Captain Blood Overture,” pieces that evoke orchestral spectacle and “even by themselves would make for a powerful season opener,” Mann said.

Based on classic Arabian Nights folktales, “Scheherazade” tells stories with a “palette of incredible color,” Mann said.

“So you have all of these scenes that play out with the orchestra like the storms on the sea and the crashing of ships on the rocks,” he said. “So this is the kind of piece, as well, that if someone had never heard an orchestra before, this would be a perfect first experience.”

Korngold composed “Captain Blood Overture” for the 1935 film “Captain Blood” starring Errol Flynn, “from the old glory days of the silver screen,” Mann said, adding that TSO musicians are excited about the season-opening show.

“I just as recently as yesterday was starting to hear from more of them telling me that they can’t wait until next week. That’s a wonderful sign,” he said. “And I’m sure our audiences will agree.”

(The Texarkana Symphony Orchestra featuring Zuill Bailey will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, at the Perot Theatre, 221 Main St. A pre-performance discussion of the program will begin at 6:10 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit texarkanasymphony.org or perottheatre.com.)

CORRECTION

Because of a reporting error, the version of this story in the Friday, Sept. 30, print edition misstated the time of the concert. It will begin at 7 p.m., not 7:30 p.m. The Gazette regrets the error.

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