Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra opens season Monday night | Arts & Culture

The search for the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra’s new music director begins Monday night with the concert program’s opening performance of the season.

Tonight’s conductor, Paul Haas, is the first of four music director finalists who will appear before the symphony during the 2010-2011 season. Haas is currently the music director of the Bleecker Street Opera Theater in New York, and recently conducted the National Symphony Orchestra with violinist Itzhak Perlman as his soloist.

The evening’s program, titled “Transcendence,” was designed by Haas and will feature the Alabama premier of composer Joshua Penman’s “Songs the Plants Taught Us.”  Penman is visiting from Los Angeles and will speak to the audience and University of Alabama music students.

Violinist Liana Gourdjia will perform composer Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, Op. 47 in d minor. The symphony will perform Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, Op. 68 in c minor.

The concert begins at 7 p.m. in the Moody Concert Hall at UA; located at 810 2nd Ave. Tickets are still available online at the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra’s website.

Photo: The Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, via Visit Tuscaloosa's Flickr