November 8 and 9, 2025: John Williams and Sibelius

Laura Jackson, Reno Phil music director and conductor, speaks with Chris Morrison about the second concerts of the Reno Phil's 2025-26 Classix season, “John Williams and Sibelius,” on November 8 and 9, 2025. The concerts include Transcend by Zhou Tian, Escapades by John Williams (with soloists Timothy McAllister, alto saxophone, and Tennison Watts, vibraphone), and two pieces by Jean Sibelius, Finlandia and the Symphony No. 2.

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October 11 and 12, 2025: American Masters

Laura Jackson, Reno Phil music director and conductor, and Mark Clague, musicologist and professor at the University of Michigan, speak with Chris Morrison about the opening concerts of the Reno Phil's 2025-26 Classix Season, “American Masters,” on October 11 and 12, 2025. The concerts include the Piano Concerto in One Movement by Florence Price and Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, both with piano soloist Michelle Cann, as well as two pieces by Aaron Copland, Fanfare for the Common Man and the orchestral suite from the ballet Appalachian Spring.

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April 12 and 13, 2025: Lord Nelson Mass

Laura Jackson, Reno Phil Music Director and Conductor, talks with Chris Morrison about the Reno Phil's “Lord Nelson Mass” concerts, the final concerts of the orchestra's 2024-25 Classix season, on April 12 and 13, 2025. The concerts feature the west coast premiere of Go where the wind takes you... by Iryna Aleksiychuk, the Mathis der Maler Symphony by Paul Hindemith, and, with the Reno Phil Chorus and soloists, the Lord Nelson Mass by Franz Josef Haydn.

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March 22 and 23, 2025: Beethoven's Emperor Concerto

Composer Marko Bajzer talks about his composition The Sacrifice of Prometheus, which receives its World Premiere at the Reno Phil's concerts “Beethoven's Emperor Concerto" on March 22 and 23, 2025. Music director Laura Jackson leads the concerts, which also include Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, the "Emperor," with Davidson Fellow Katherine Emma Liu as piano soloist, and The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi.

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February 22 and 23, 2025: Bruckner's Romantic Symphony

Laura Jackson, Reno Phil Music Director and Conductor, talks with Chris Morrison about the Reno Phil's “Bruckner's Romantic Symphony” concerts, the fourth concerts of the orchestra's 2024-25 Classix season, on February 22 and 23, 2025. Also appearing on the podcast are violinist Alexi Kenney and Reno Phil principal French horn John Lenz. The concerts include the Violin Concerto by Igor Stravinsky and the Rondo in C major, K. 373 by Mozart, both featuring Alexi Kenney as soloist, as well as the Symphony No. 4, the "Romantic," by Anton Bruckner.

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January 25 and 26, 2025: Symphonie fantastique

Laura Jackson, Reno Phil Music Director and Conductor, talks with Chris Morrison about the Reno Phil's “Symphonie fantastique” concerts, the third concerts of the orchestra's 2024-25 Classix season, on January 25 and 26, 2025. The program includes La valse by Maurice Ravel, the Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor by Camille Saint-Saens, with cello soloist Sterling Elliott, and the Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz.

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November 23 and 24, 2024: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto

Laura Jackson, Reno Phil Music Director and Conductor, talks with Chris Morrison about the Reno Phil's “Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto” concerts, the second concerts of the orchestra's 2024-25 Classix season, on November 23 and 24, 2024. The music on the program includes the Overture to La forza del destino by Giuseppe Verdi, the Negro Folk Symphony by William Dawson, and the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, with piano soloist Sara Davis Buechner.

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The 2024-25 Classix Season and Sept. 28/29, 2024: Beethoven's Eroica

Laura Jackson, Reno Phil Music Director and Conductor, and Aaron Doty, the President and CEO of the Reno Phil, discuss the concerts of the 2024-25 Classix season, including the season-opening performances, "Beethoven's Eroica," on September 28 and 19, 2024.

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April 20 and 21, 2024: Mahler's Fifth Symphony

Laura Jackson, Reno Phil Music Director and Conductor, and Jennifer Tibben, director of the Reno Phil Chorus, talk with Chris Morrison about the Reno Phil's “Mahler's Fifth Symphony” concerts, the final concerts of the orchestra's 2023-24 season, on April 20 and 21, 2024. The music includes the Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler as well as the Gloria by Francis Poulenc.

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March 23 and 24, 2024: Gershwin Celebration

Laura Jackson, Reno Phil Music Director and Conductor, and Mark Clague, Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, Director of the University's Gershwin Initiative, and Editor-in-Chief of the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition, talk with Chris Morrison about the Reno Phil's “Gershwin Celebration” concerts on March 23 and 24, 2024. The music includes Maurice Ravel's Boléro; Spaghetti Western by Michael Daugherty, with English horn soloist Jordan Pyle; and two pieces by George Gershwin, An American in Paris and the Overture to Primrose.

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February 24 and 25, 2024: Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony

Reno Phil music director and conductor Laura Jackson, composer Paul Novak, violin soloist Charlotte Marckx, and Tacie Moessner of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development speak with Chris Morrison about the Reno Phil's concerts "Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony" on February 24 and 25, 2024. The concerts include longing is an aviary by Paul Novak, the Violin Concerto No. 4 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the Symphony No. 5 by Dmitri Shostakovich.

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January 27 and 28, 2024: Spanish Nights

Guest conductor Ramón Tebar talks about his concerts "Spanish Nights" with the Reno Phil on January 27 and 28, 2024, which include the Four Dances from Estancia by Alberto Ginastera, the Fantasía para un gentilhombre by Joaquín Rodrigo, and the ballet The Three-Cornered Hat by Manuel de Falla.

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November 7/8, 2020: Dare We Dance?

In this episode of Inside the Music: The Reno Phil Podcast, Reno Phil Music Director and Conductor Laura Jackson, harpist Marina Roznitovsky Oster, and dancer Martina Young speak with Chris Morrison about the second concert of the Reno Phil's 2020-21 season. Titled "Dare We Dance?", the concert is a celebration of dance featuring music by Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saens, Osvaldo Golijov, and Jennifer Higdon.

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Introduction to the Podcast

Chris Morrison provides a short introduction to Inside the Music: The Reno Phil Podcast.

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Festival update and some blog news

We’ve just posted at our website all the information on our 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival, coming up December 28-31. Check out the great performers, including both longtime favorites and some great newcomers, and the nice mix of repertoire. There are a few performances I’m particularly looking forward to – the opening evening’s Tchaikovsky Trio, the Brahms Sextet on evening #2, the Busoni Violin Sonata No. 1 with Buswell and Winn – but every concert is pretty much guaranteed to provide thrills. We’ve got a variety of ticket discounts and special pricing arrangements, all of which are spelled out at the website. Purchase your tickets online here, or give us a call at (775) 348-9413.

Speaking of the website, some nice surprises are going to be coming to our site in the next few weeks, so check in regularly.

While I’m writing, I might also mention that Alex Ross, one of today’s great writers on classical music, has just started a new blog at the New Yorker website, Unquiet Thoughts. It supplements his other blog, The Rest is Noise, which will now be devoted to contents related to his books, particularly his great history of twentieth century music of the same title. Ross’s regular New Yorker columns are essential reading for classical music fans. Links to both his blogs can be seen in the right hand column of this blog.

In a recent post at Unquiet Thoughts, Ross pointed to a very happy development – the initiation of a blog by John Adams, one of my very favorite composers. At first glance the blog, wonderfully titled Hell Mouth, will maintain the levels of intelligence, candor, and humor Adams exhibited in his very entertaining autobiography, Hallelujah Junction, which is just about to come out in paperback form. Check it out.