In classical music programming, common wisdom suggests that you sprinkle something exciting and new in with the tried and true.
On Friday night, in the first of two performances of its “Haydn and Brahms” concert at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, Tucson Symphony Orchestra went the distance with that philosophy.
We got a talented new-to-us guest conductor leading the orchestra in gems by Mozart, Haydn and Brahms alongside a dramatic new work we’d never heard before performed by a guest soloist we were just introduced to in November.
And then there was the surprise: The return of the former TSO concertmaster Steven Moeckel sitting in his old seat.
We haven’t seen Moeckel in that chair since he left us for the Phoenix Symphony in 2008.
The orchestra has been hosting guest concertmasters since Concertmaster Lauren Roth took a sabbatical this season after landing the assistant concertmaster role with the Atlanta Symphony in Georgia.