This heavily German program brings together Schumann’s restless and innovative Fourth Symphony; Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen, a deeply personal work of inner transformation; and an orchestral arrangement of Mendelssohn’s tale of mistaken identity. Distinguished pianist Awadagin Pratt is the first to perform a new piano concerto by rising star composer Jessie Montgomery; this premiere music has been co-commissioned by the Art of Piano Foundation, the MSO, and a coalition* of North American orchestras.
*The MSO thanks its co-commissioning partners: Art of Piano Foundation; Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra (which will premiere the work); St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra; Iris Orchestra; Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Colorado Symphony; Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; and Kansas City Symphony.
Tōru Takemitsu’s all-string Requiem, dedicated to the memory of a fellow composer, was the music that first established the Japanese composer in the western world in the 1950s. Contrast the Requiem with the contemporary voice of another Japanese composer, Misato Mochizuki, and with the French mus...
A visit to the countryside and a pleasant, babbling brook. A “merry gathering” of friends and neighbors. A sudden downpour and, finally, feelings of “thanks to the Deity.” This is the path Beethoven charts through his Sixth Symphony, titled “Pastoral” after its idyllic country setting; listen for...
American composers are on display, including African American trailblazer William Grant Still and Pulitzer Prize-winning Samuel Barber. Gershwin’s Second Rhapsody, often called “Rhapsody in Rivets” for its industrial New York noise, began as a film score and is rife with urban frenzy. Aaron Diehl...
