A gala concert at

      Benaroya Hall on Saturday, Sept. 11, inaugurated Gerard

      Schwarz’s 20th season as music director of Seattle Symphony.

      Joined by such celebrated friends as pianists Gary Graffman

      and Lorin Hollander and opera stars Jane Eaglen and Vinson

      Cole, Maestro Schwarz launched the new season with renewed

      commitment to Seattle as his musical and personal home.

     

      Credited with

      bringing the orchestra to a new level of musical maturity,

      Schwarz crowned last year’s Seattle Symphony Centennial Season

      with the orchestra’s first-ever East Coast tour, including a

      debut concert at Carnegie Hall. Schwarz and the orchestra have

      produced a great bounty of recorded music together. They have

      received multiple Grammy nominations and awards, commissioned

      and performed dozens of new works, and increased international

      attention to American composers.

     

      Schwarz has

      established himself as an active participant in Jewish

      communal life over these two decades: among his memorable

      commitments, he has involved himself in benefit concerts for

      Jewish Family Service, facilitated and conducted Music of

      Remembrance commissions and performances, and taken a

      leadership role as both performer and board member in the

      ambitious Milken Archive of American Jewish Music.

     

      The orchestra, and

      the city, have benefited from his long-term commitment to stay

      here and, quite literally, to build: the presence of Benaroya

      Hall, which opened in 1998, is due in no small measure to the

      respect and friendship that Gerard Schwarz has established

      with patrons who share his vision. 

     

      The coming Seattle

      Symphony season includes performances by Itzhak Perlman (Oct.

      3) and Pinchas Zukerman (two January concerts, which include a

      world premiere by David Schiff). For complete program and

      ticket information about Seattle Symphony’s 2004-2005 season,

      visit

      www.seattlesymphony.org or call 206-215-4747.