For the first time in more than a decade, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is going on tour. The ASO will do a four-city tour of Southern California during the first week of March under the baton of Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann.
In recent years, the orchestra has performed in venues other than Symphony Hall — notably Carnegie Hall and the Savannah Music Festival — but it has not done concerts in California since the Ojai Music Festival in 2006.
The tour was originally going to feature Stutzmann leading the Philadelphia Orchestra, where she is principal guest conductor. When that orchestra had to cancel, Stutzmann enlisted the ASO to replace it.
Pianist Haochen Zhang, the gold medalist of the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition, will be the guest soloist. The orchestra will perform works by Dvorak and Beethoven.
The orchestra’s performance schedule in California is:
— March 6, McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert
— March 7, Segerstrom Center for Arts in Costa Mesa
— March 8, Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara
— March 9, Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles
WABE announces new show and podcasts
WABE has announced four new series’ of podcasts coming this summer, including one devoted to the film and television industry, plus a broadcast talk show featuring Renee Montgomery, the former WNBA player and part-owner of the Atlanta Dream.
The Boom podcast will be hosted by entertainment and culture reporter Jewel Wicker and delve into Atlanta’s film and television community. It will debut August 18 on podcast platforms.
In addition, the Buried Truths podcast, hosted by Hank Klibanoff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and a journalist and professor, will have bonus episodes of its fourth season that investigates the 1958 police beating and death of a young Black father in Terrell County. The episodes premiere August 2.
The station will also have podcasts on justice and media, along with CreativeMornings Atlanta, both of which will premiere August 28.
Montgomery — a former WNBA star — is bringing her weekly talk show to the WABE lineup. She will be joined by family members for a talk show that combines interviews with culture conversations. It will air on WABE Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. beginning August 12.
