South Florida Classical Review

Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman will perform together in the Arsht Center’s 2017-18 classical series.

The Arsht Center’s 2017-2018 classical series might be more correctly designated “Classical Lite.”

After a season that featured outstanding concerts and thoughtful programming from the Minnesota Orchestra and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, next season’s four programs concentrate on thrice-familiar fare and crossover offerings. With the Cleveland Orchestra presenting only two programs next season amid rumors of the ensemble ending its annual Miami residencies, the Arsht schedule is particularly disappointing in a transitional season.

The opening concert on November 5 by the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta is the series’ most promising program. (Mehta is stepping down as the Israeli ensemble’s music director in 2018 after more than five decades.) A suite from the score for the film Footnote by Amit Poznansky is paired with symphonies by Mozart (No. 36) and Schubert (No. 9).

On January 17, 2018 Pinchas Zukerman solos in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 and conducts London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and short works by Weber and Elgar. Then Zukerman returns on February 25 with fellow violinist Itzhak Perlman for a duo concert with Zukerman doubling on viola and Rohan De Silva at the piano.

The series concludes on April 23 with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble in their world music-classical fusion repertoire. arshtcenter.org

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