Jader Bignamini & Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Jader Bignamini Renews with the Detroit Symphony Through the 30-31 Season
Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jader Bignamini Renew Partnership Through The 2030-31 Season and Announce Plans to Release First Recording Together, Wynton Marsalis Blues Symphony
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra and President & CEO Erik Rönmark today announced the continuation of the extraordinary artistic partnership of Music Director Jader Bignamini and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with a five-year extension of Bignamini’s contract through the end of the 2030-31 season. The DSO and Bignamini also announced plans for their first recording together—Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony—recorded live in Orchestra Hall, December 1-3, 2023, to be released by the Pentatone label.
Currently in the third season of his initial five-year contract, Jader Bignamini was introduced as the DSO’s 18th music director in January 2020 following an initial spark of chemistry between him and the orchestra’s musicians during two guest conducting appearances in 2018 and 2019. Since this introduction, Bignamini and the DSO have charted a path of artistic excellence, innovation, and resilience, from online DSO Digital Concerts during his designate year that kept the orchestra connected with its community at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, to thrilling returning audiences in Orchestra Hall with performances of major symphonic works and music by underrepresented composers.
Bignamini and the DSO have also reinvigorated the orchestra’s annual summer residency at Interlochen Center for the Performing Arts, championed the music of contemporary African American composers including Jessie Montgomery, Carlos Simon, and Michael Abels, and announced plans for their first tour together—six concerts in Florida this coming February 13-20. Additionally, Bignamini has overseen successful auditions that have led to the appointment of ten new DSO musicians over the past three years.
“I am so very proud of all that we have accomplished together, but especially of the outstanding music-making by the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,” said Bignamini. “Although we did not know the challenges that awaited us when I first came to this great music city, we are rising to meet the demands of this new era. Our musicians’ dedication to their craft, and to being the best, makes my job a pleasure as we build something remarkable here in Detroit and beyond. I look forward to showing the high quality of this orchestra through our recording of Marsalis’s Blues Symphony and on tour. I am deeply grateful to every musician of the orchestra, to Board Chair David T. Provost and our Board of Directors, to Erik Rönmark for his leadership, to the entire administrative staff, and to our amazing audiences—we couldn’t do what we do without you.”
“Jader has proven himself to be the right artistic leader at the right time for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,” said Rönmark. “The DSO has historically prided itself on artistic excellence while also placing a high level of importance upon its role as a cultural cornerstone for Detroit. Jader’s expressive command of the orchestra and musical expertise continues to bring out the best in our musicians every week, whether he’s on the podium or we have a guest conductor. He understands the power of music to unite, inspire, and entertain us, and we couldn’t be happier to continue this journey together.”