Photo: Steve J. Sherman

Susan Isaacs Nisbett
Ann Arbor, Mich. (Sept. 9, 2014)
By his own admission, Arie Lipsky, music director of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, likes to change things up. “I like contrasts,” he said in a recent phone call.

That said, the orchestra’s season-opening concert, set for Saturday evening at Hill Auditorium, is a little unusual for Lipsky, with only one composer and no lesser-known gems from that composer as the fare.

But who needs more when it’s Beethoven, right? Or when you have a pianist like the internationally celebrated Andre Watts soloing in the “Emperor” Concerto? Or when the great Fifth Symphony and the “Leonore Overture No. 3” are also on the bill?

And yet, there will be contrasts aplenty in Saturday’s gala “Beethoven Festival with Andre Watts,” on many levels. For one thing, the concert is a sort of calling card for an orchestra that has come of age and is on the ascendancy, an announcement of its maturity and stature.
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