As he enters his second season as Music Director of the Seattle Symphony, Thomas Dausgaard spoke with Andrew Stiefel about the 2020/21 season and reflects on music’s power to move us.
This will be your second season as Music Director of the Seattle Symphony. What’s next for your collaboration with the orchestra?
I have been tremendously inspired by the fundamental openness and curiosity I’ve found in Seattle, which led the Seattle Symphony musicians to present the now famous Music Beyond Borders concert some seasons back.
The music this season will take us on a journey as we travel beyond our borders in an exchange with our neighbors on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. I am excited that we are inviting a number of world class soloists from Asia to the Seattle Symphony stage: the prize-winning pianist Eric Lu, pianist Yekwon Sunwoo, pianist Nobuyuki Tsuji, sitar player Guarav Nazumdar and cellist Zlatomir Fung.
As musicians, we are privileged to exchange and share musical ideas from around our world, enriching the lives of those who listen to us, and empowering everyone to make the world a better place. This season is filled with many more cultural exchanges, from the juxtaposition of liturgical works by Beethoven and Tan Dun, to new commissions by Mexican composer Enrico Chapela and Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen, Reena Esmail as Composer in Residence, and welcoming artists from musical traditions around the world.
I’m also excited to continue exploring the music of this country, including what is probably the first great American symphony, Amy Beach’s wonderful Gaelic Symphony from 1894, as well as the Seattle premiere of John Adams’ latest orchestral work, I Still Dance.