BSO 2016/17 Season - Concert Previews

Listen to the concert preview. Eminent Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman joins Andris Nelsons and the BSO in Trauermarsch ("Funeral March") by the German Jörg Widmann, a composer new to the BSO. Writing this concerto-like piece for Bronfman and the Berlin Philharmonic, who premiered it in 2014, Widmann set out deliberately to evoke and engage with music of the Romantic era. A German Requiem, Brahms's largest work, originated with music he wrote following Robert Schumann's attempted suicide in 1854 and seems also to have been connected to the death of the composer's own mother. The result is an utterly personal, scarcely ceremonial Requiem for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus, and orchestra, episodically setting texts chosen by Brahms from the Bible. Its "German"-ness derives partly from the fact that, unlike the traditional Latin Requiem text, Brahms used Martin Luther's German translations of scripture. A German Requiem was the composer's first nearly universal success among his large-scale works, unequivocally fulfilling Schumann's early predictions of Brahms's greatness.

Andris Nelsons speaks about the Strauss Opera, Der Rosenkavalier. Continuing their series of Richard Strauss operas in concert, which has so far brought star-studded performances of Salome in March 2014 and Elektra in October 2015, Andris Nelsons and the BSO open their 2016-17 subscription season with the composer's far more genteel, elegant, and touching Der Rosenkavalier, the second (following Elektra) in Strauss's own series of remarkable collaborations with playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal. A dream cast headlined by Renée Fleming's Marschallin, Susan Graham's Octavian, Erin Morley's Sophie, and Franz Hawlata's Baron Ochs anchors the BSO's performances of this subtle, often funny, and beautiful opera, one of the composer's finest..

Listen to the concert preview. The first Casual Friday of 2016-17 pairs Dmitri Shostakovich's brief but exciting Festive Overture, written in 1954 to mark the 37th anniversary of the Soviet Revolution, with French composer Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Originally for solo piano, this familiar but always scintillating orchestral tour-de-force provides a musical depiction of an imagined stroll through a gallery of paintings and drawings, ranging from a fantastic gnome and a buoyant ballet of chicks in their shells to the dark shadows of subterranean catacombs and the majestic splendor of the Great Gate of Kiev.

Download the Program Notes. Continuing their series of Richard Strauss operas in concert, which has so far brought star-studded performances of Salome in March 2014 and Elektra in October 2015, Andris Nelsons and the BSO open their 2016-17 subscription season with the composer's far more genteel, elegant, and touching Der Rosenkavalier, the second (following Elektra) in Strauss's own series of remarkable collaborations with playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal. A dream cast headlined by Renée Fleming's Marschallin, Susan Graham's Octavian, Erin Morley's Sophie, and Franz Hawlata's Baron Ochs anchors the BSO's performances of this subtle, often funny, and beautiful opera, one of the composer's finest..

Listen to the concert preview. Continuing their series of Richard Strauss operas in concert, which has so far brought star-studded performances of Salome in March 2014 and Elektra in October 2015, Andris Nelsons and the BSO open their 2016-17 subscription season with the composer's far more genteel, elegant, and touching Der Rosenkavalier, the second (following Elektra) in Strauss's own series of remarkable collaborations with playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal. A dream cast headlined by Renée Fleming's Marschallin, Susan Graham's Octavian, Erin Morley's Sophie, and Franz Hawlata's Baron Ochs anchors the BSO's performances of this subtle, often funny, and beautiful opera, one of the composer's finest..

Listen to the concert preview. For this all-Russian program, superstar Chinese pianist Lang Lang joins Andris Nelsons and the BSO as soloist in Sergei Prokofiev's brilliant, witty Piano Concerto No. 3. The composer himself was soloist in the premiere in front of an unenthusiastic Chicago audience in 1921, but in short order this sparkling, virtuosic piece became one of the most popular of 20th-century concertos. Opening the concert is the celebratory Festive Overture of Dmitri Shostakovich, who wrote this short, exciting piece for the Bolshoi Theatre to mark the 37th anniversary of the Soviet Revolution. The great orchestral showpiece Pictures at an Exhibition-Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's solo-piano impressions of a series of paintings and illustrations-closes the program. Ravel made this famous orchestration for legendary BSO conductor Serge Koussevitzky.

Watch the Opening Night at Symphony Video. For this all-Russian program, superstar Chinese pianist Lang Lang joins Andris Nelsons and the BSO as soloist in Sergei Prokofiev's brilliant, witty Piano Concerto No. 3. The composer himself was soloist in the premiere in front of an unenthusiastic Chicago audience in 1921, but in short order this sparkling, virtuosic piece became one of the most popular of 20th-century concertos. Opening the concert is the celebratory Festive Overture of Dmitri Shostakovich, who wrote this short, exciting piece for the Bolshoi Theatre to mark the 37th anniversary of the Soviet Revolution. The great orchestral showpiece Pictures at an Exhibition-Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's solo-piano impressions of a series of paintings and illustrations-closes the program. Ravel made this famous orchestration for legendary BSO conductor Serge Koussevitzky.

Download the Program Notes. For the penultimate concerts of the BSO's 2015-2016 season, Andris Nelsons leads Mahler's Ninth Symphony, the work with which he made his debut with the orchestra in 2011, at Carnegie Hall. The composer's last completed work, the Ninth is a stunningly moving piece that has been interpreted as a meditation on death. On the boundary between the Romantic and the modern eras, it is doubtless one of the most beautiful symphonies in the literature.

Listen to the concert preview. For the penultimate concerts of the BSO's 2015-2016 season, Andris Nelsons leads Mahler's Ninth Symphony, the work with which he made his debut with the orchestra in 2011, at Carnegie Hall. The composer's last completed work, the Ninth is a stunningly moving piece that has been interpreted as a meditation on death. On the boundary between the Romantic and the modern eras, it is doubtless one of the most beautiful symphonies in the literature.

Listen to the concert preview. BSO concertmaster Malcolm Lowe and principal viola Steven Ansell join Andris Nelsons and the BSO for one of Mozart's greatest concertos, the Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola. Mozart wrote this exemplar of Classical form and style during a lengthy trip to Paris. Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 was originally composed in 1872 but was subjected to a number of revisions by the composer (the present version being the "1889 version"). The symphony everywhere reveals its deep debt to Richard Wagner, to whom Bruckner dedicated the work "in deepest reverence.

Download the Program Notes. BSO concertmaster Malcolm Lowe and principal viola Steven Ansell join Andris Nelsons and the BSO for one of Mozart's greatest concertos, the Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola. Mozart wrote this exemplar of Classical form and style during a lengthy trip to Paris. Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 was originally composed in 1872 but was subjected to a number of revisions by the composer (the present version being the "1889 version"). The symphony everywhere reveals its deep debt to Richard Wagner, to whom Bruckner dedicated the work "in deepest reverence.

Download the Program Notes. BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink and the great American pianist Murray Perahia collaborate with the orchestra in Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto. Completed in 1806, the concerto begins surprisingly with unaccompanied piano, and is cast in Beethoven's warm, relaxed mode. Mahler's Symphony No. 1, completed in his late twenties, is in a four-movement, mostly traditional form, but already hints at the expansiveness and innovation of his later symphonies.

Listen to the concert preview. BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink and the great American pianist Murray Perahia collaborate with the orchestra in Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto. Completed in 1806, the concerto begins surprisingly with unaccompanied piano, and is cast in Beethoven's warm, relaxed mode. Mahler's Symphony No. 1, completed in his late twenties, is in a four-movement, mostly traditional form, but already hints at the expansiveness and innovation of his later symphonies.

Download the Program Notes. Continuing the BSO's survey of the Stalin-era works of Dmitri Shostakovich, Andris Nelsons leads the composer's wartime Eighth Symphony. Written only a decade earlier, Rachmaninoff's perennially popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, here played by the Russian virtuoso Nikolai Lugansky, is a tour de force of compositional craft.

Listen to the Concert Preview! Continuing the BSO's survey of the Stalin-era works of Dmitri Shostakovich, Andris Nelsons leads the composer's wartime Eighth Symphony. Written only a decade earlier, Rachmaninoff's perennially popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, here played by the Russian virtuoso Nikolai Lugansky, is a tour de force of compositional craft.