ESO's lineup includes a guest visit from Spock

Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock of "Star Trek" fame, will take an imaginary voyage back to the "final frontier" when he appears as a special guest at the Elgin Symphony Orchestra's annual gala concert ushering in the 2008-09 season.

News of the star's appearance Sept. 25 was revealed when the Elgin Symphony Orchestra unveiled details about its 59th season at Thursday night's annual "Season Preview" and open rehearsal at Hemmens Theatre.

Nimoy will narrate Gustav Holst's orchestral suite, "The Planets," with music director Robert Hanson and the ESO accompanied by projected visual images of the solar system captured in deep space by NASA's cameras.

The ESO's season also will include the third annual "Holiday Showcase at the Sears Center" in early December, along with eight Classic Series programs featuring music by Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Mozart and Tchaikovsky, with the May 2008 "American Icon Festival" devoted to the music of the late Leonard Bernstein in the 90th anniversary year of his birth.

The Friday matinee series at Hemmens, a welcomed addition this season, will continue in 2008-09.

In addition to Nimoy, the orchestra will welcome a wide-ranging list of guest artists, including, for the Classic Series, violinists Midori and ESO concertmaster Isabella Lippi, cellist Matt Haimovitz, harpist Yolanda Kondanassis, pianists Terrence Wilson and Mikhail Rudy, and soprano Arianna Zukerman.

Soloists for the four Pops Series concerts will include pianist Rich Ridenour, trumpet soloist Neil Balm and vocalist Lisa Vroman.

"I believe, of the last six or seven seasons, this is our strongest season for guest artists," Hanson said. "The first thing you notice is that Leonard Nimoy is a very unusual guest artist for a symphony concert. At the time we hired Nimoy, we already knew that Midori was coming, so we felt this was going to give our season a big boost at our first Classic Series concerts in October with the Brahms Violin Concerto."

Midori will also devote much of her weeklong residency working closely with the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Season subscriptions for 2008-09 are now available by calling the ESO box office at (847) 888-4000, or by visiting elginsymphony.org. In an unprecedented move, the ESO is offering patrons (first time or renewals) this season's prices if they purchase their subscriptions by April 5.