Masterworks Concerts

2012-2013 Season

Over the next three seasons, in an exploration titled "Mischief in Music: Wit, Insolence, and Insurrection," the FSO will examine how certain composers convey human characteristics from the silly to the serious, the light to the leviathan, the innocent to the irrevocable.

Flexible Subscription Packages available: Discounts, no fees, and even more benefits when you subscribe today!


September 22, 2012

Christopher Zimmerman, Conductor

Jeffrey Biegel, piano

Concert at 8:00pm, Pre-Performance Lecture at 7:00pm

ADAMS: Chairman Dances – Foxtrot for Orchestra
ZWILICH: Shadowsfor Piano and Orchestra
(Virginia Premiere and Co-Commission)
BERNSTEIN: Three Dance Episodes, “On the Town”
GERSHWIN: Piano Concerto in F Major

Purchase Tickets

The FSO opens its season with an All-American program with something for everyone—Adams, Bernstein, Gershwin, and the Virginia premiere of a new concerto by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Ellen Taafe Zwilich, “Shadows” featuring pianist Jeffrey Biegel.


George Mason University's Center for the Arts (Directions)

Subscribe to our season here!

SPECIAL EMBASSY SERIES CONCERT: October 19, 2012

Christopher Zimmerman, guest conductor

Edvinas Minkstimas, piano

Concert at 7:30pm

SCHNITTKE: Mozart à la Haydn
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 17
HAYDN: Symphony No. 83, "The Hen"

Purchase Tickets

The Fairfax Symphony Orchestra is delighted to present its first chamber orchestra concert at the Austrian Embassy. This is a program that celebrates the two great Austrian masters of the classical era as well as a composer who pays unconventional hommage to both of them; a program of the old and the new, demonstrating the richness and diversity of our great classical musical legacy. In addition, the orchestra is pleased to present the artistry of pianist Edvinas Minkštimas, Artist in Residence of Embassy Series, Phillips Collection and Mahler Philharmonic in Vienna, Austria, who is fast becoming a name associated with musical excellence in United States and Europe. Tickets can be purchased directly through the Embassy Series.


SPECIAL VENUE: The Austrian Embassy (Directions)

November 17, 2012

Kenneth Woods, guest conductor

Benjamin Beilman, violin

Concert at 8:00pm, Pre-Performance Lecture at 7:00pm



BEETHOVEN: Overture to Coriolan, Op. 62
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 2
BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto

Purchase Tickets

Benjamin Beilman, winner of a 2012 Avery Fisher grant and a rising star on the performance circuit, joins the FSO for an All-Beethoven program featuring the Violin Concerto, and Symphony No. 2, with guest conductor, Kenneth Woods.


George Mason University's Center for the Arts (Directions)

Subscribe to our season here!

December 8, 2012

Christopher Zimmerman, Conductor

James Dick, piano

Concert at 8:00pm, Pre-Performance Lecture at 7:00pm

ROSSINI: Overture to La Gazza Ladra
TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique"

Purchase Tickets

Take a break from the holiday madness with the FSO’s December Masterworks concert featuring pianist James Dick, founder of the Round Top Festival Institute, playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto, complemented by Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6.


George Mason University's Center for the Arts (Directions)

Subscribe to our season here!

January 19, 2013

Christopher Zimmerman, Conductor

Christina Jennings, Flute

Concert at 8:00pm, Pre-Performance Lecture at 7:00pm

MOZART: Overture to The Magic Flute
IVES: The Unanswered Question
LESHNOFF: Flute Concerto (Virginia Premiere)
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1

Purchase Tickets

The FSO presents the Virginia premiere of Baltimore-native Jonathon Leshnoff’s Flute Concerto, featuring Christina Jennings, in a concert program that also includes Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.


George Mason University's Center for the Arts (Directions)

Subscribe to our season here!

March 16, 2013

Christopher Zimmerman, Conductor

Concert at 8:00pm, Pre-Performance Lecture at 7:00pm

J. STRAUSS: Emperor Waltz
J. STRAUSS: Tick Tack, Pizzicato, and Trisch-Tratsch Polkas
R. STRAUSS: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
J. STRAUSS: Overture to Die Fledermaus
R. STRAUSS: Till Eulenspeigel's Merry Pranks
R. STRAUSS: Salome's Dance

Purchase Tickets

Not normally associated with each other, due to their very different musical language and aesthetic, the FSO nevertheless celebrates the two most famous Strausses in an evening of music unified by dances and general mischief-making, ranging from the light-hearted to the lethal.


George Mason University's Center for the Arts (Directions)

Subscribe to our season here!

May 11, 2013

Christopher Zimmerman, Conductor

Joni Henson, Soprano

Brennen Guillory, Tenor

Concert at 8:00pm, Pre-Performance Lecture at 7:00pm

VERDI: Overture to La Forza del Destino
VERDI: "Tu che le vanità conoscesti del mondo" from Don Carlos
WAGNER: Prelude to Act 3 from Lohengrin
WAGNER: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
VERDI: Preludes to Acts 1 and 3 from La Traviata
VERDI: “Gia nella notte” from Otello
VERDI: “Dio ti giocondi, O Sposo” and “Dio mi potevi, scagliar” from Otello
WAGNER: Prelude to Die Meistersinger

Purchase Tickets

Overtures and arias from some of the most beloved operas of our age, by musical giants Wagner and Verdi, both of whom are celebrating the 200th anniversary of their birth in 2012-2013.

George Mason University's Center for the Arts (Directions)

Subscribe to our season here!