Usual and unusual

Bartender gives her a drink called a Concerto for Four Saxophones and Orchestra.

Voo, voo, voo, wah! Lady´s head expands.

“What was that?”

“The usual.”

Slipping zing into classical music´s dogeared cocktail list of Mozart, Tchaikovsky and their cronies is a tried and true formula for Lansing Symphony Orchestra maestro Timothy Muffitt, and he’s not about to change it for the 2015-16 season, announced this week.

It’s the usual, but always with a twist. An over-the-top night of Gershwin music Sept. 18, with pianist Ralph Votapek playing four major works in a row, and the Lansing debut of incandescent violinist Rachel Barton Pine on Jan. 23 are two of the season’s high points, along with the Brobdingnagian Fourth Symphony by Tchaikovsky as a season finale May 4.

The stampede of saxophones, rounded up by Ann Arbor composer William Bolcom, is the centerpiece of the most unusual night of the season, an all-American concert Nov. 7 featuring “our” three B’s: Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein and Bolcom, an award-winning composer who taught composition for 25 years at the University of Michigan.

“It’s exactly what one might expect from a concerto for four saxophones,” Muffitt said, without apparent irony.

The concert goes like a bender in reverse, from the depths of two profound Barber works, the Adagio for Strings and the First Symphony, through Bolcom’s reedy extravaganza to the exuberant dances of Bernstein’s “On the Town.”

“It’s a real journey that follows a very decisive track from beginning to end,” Muffitt said.

Votapek, an MSU piano legend, will team up with the orchestra for a marathon performance at the Sept. 18 season opener that will make a worthy career bookend to his historic Van Cliburn competition win back in 1962 — or at least get him a citation for parking his piano on stage too long.

He’ll play all four works on the program, from Gershwin’s variations on “I Got Rhythm” through the famous “Rhapsody in Blue.” True to form, Muffitt will sneak in the almost-neverheard Second Rhapsody (a.k.a. “Revenge of the Rhapsody”) to give the night an extra twist.

In fall 2013, Muffitt imported Russian violinist Ilya Kaler to play both Prokofiev concertos in one concert in Lansing, but the maestro has never before worked with a soloist who camped on the stage all night.

Votapek floated the idea to Muffitt via email almost two years ago.

“I had time to digest it, and I realized that it’s a nobrainer,” Muffitt said. “It has all the perfect qualities for a concert here in Lansing. Ralph is one of our hometown heroes.”

Next season’s visiting soloists also pack some extra zing. Like most classical music lovers, Muffitt has been following the gripping story of Chicago violinist Rachel Barton Pine for years, and was elated to snag her to play the Bruch “Scottish Fantasy” for a Jan. 23 concert that ends with Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony.

Pine has impeccable classical cred, but connects with audiences who don’t like classical music. She plays in a heavy metal band and has a compelling backstory: She almost left this world in a horrific 1995 commuter train accident that cost her part of one leg. (A passing train snagged her violin strap.)

“That is, without a doubt, part of the inspiration factor with her,” Muffitt said. “She’s an extraordinary violinist. I´ve never worked with her before but I´ve heard her on countless recordings.”

Another compelling young soloist, Seattle cellist Joshua Roman, will play the Elgar Cello Concerto Oct. 9 in a concert that will conclude with Rachmaninoff´s huge Second Symphony. Roman is the epitome of the post-modern classical performer, playing informal gigs on roof tops and in parks (check out his Bach series on YouTube) when the mood strikes.

“This will be a very traditional setting for him, to play standard repertoire in a concert hall,” Muffitt said, “but he brings a fresh energy and a fresh vision of classical music.”

Even that hoariest of orchestral rituals, an all-Mozart night (March 5), has a fresh angle. Anchored by the minorkey 40th Symphony, the evening will feature Muffitt’s own handpicked bouquet of blossoms from the exquisite — but very long — "Gran Partita," rarely heard in symphonic concerts.

The season rolls to a close May 4 with the emotionally draining juggernaut of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. It’s a big end to a big night that also features a soloist yet to be named —the Gilmore Keyboard Festival 2016 Young Artist Winner — and another new element: a new work from young composer Mark Edwards Wilson, “The Phoenix.”

“I like to make sure that opening and closing nights are highly charged,” Muffitt said.

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth is among the most complex scores in the repertoire, but Muffitt isn´t worried about that.

“We are at a point where the level of playing is really fantastic,” he said “I feel confident that the Lansing orchestra could handle anything you set in front of them.”