Robertson


Currie

Currie x 3
Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 3pm
Presented by Plaza Lexus

David Robertson, conductor
Colin Currie, percussion

MOZART The Abduction from the Seraglio Overture
CHRISTOPHER ROUSE Der gerettete Alberich
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

Colin Currie nimbly crossed back and forth across the stage playing a battery of percussion in spring 2006, and audiences felt the sonic power reverberating long after. This season Currie plays a different percussion concerto for each concert. Mozart and Beethoven, classical purveyors of modern rhythms, complete the adventure.

Serkin

Sunday, October 26, 2008 at 3pm

Ingo Metzmacher, conductor
Peter Serkin, piano

MUSSORGSKY/SHOSTAKOVICH Dawn on the Moskva River from Khovanshchina
MESSIAEN Les offrandes oubliées
STRAVINSKY Capriccio
MESSIAEN Oiseaux exotiques
MUSSORGSKY/RAVEL Pictures at an Exhibition

Mussorgsky was inspired by an exhibition of paintings; Ravel was inspired by Mussorgsky. Create your own pictures from the sound images Mussorgsky draws, and to which Ravel adds color. Plus Messiaen’s bright exotic birds and Stravinsky showing off: syncopated, jazzy, fascinatin’.

Lortie

Sunday, December 7, 2008 at 3pm
Presented by Thompson Coburn LLP

Michael Christie, conductor
Louis Lortie, piano

BARBER Essay No. 1
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1
TCHAIKOVSKY Suite No. 3

Barber’s Essay lights a bright American candle. Chopin’s piano concertos are all of fire, a dramatic combustion between orchestra and soloist, a battle as riveting as a volatile marriage. Tchaikovsky’s suites are just as incandescent. Being Russian, he knows the darkest nights require heat and light. He brings them.

Lee

Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 3pm
Presented by Thompson Coburn LLP

Xian Zhang, conductor
Daniel Lee, cello

CHEN YI Si Ji (Four Seasons)
ELGAR Cello Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5

Music of the seasons, from an Asian perspective. Then Elgar’s concerto, written near the close of World War I, makes music from the ashes of a world destroyed, hauntingly played by SLSO Principal Cello Daniel Lee. Out of Tchaikovsky’s struggles of the heart, he makes an eloquent appeal to Fate.

Goode

Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 3pm

David Robertson, conductor
Richard Goode, piano

BRETT DEAN Carlo
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
R. STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben

Three musical portraits. Two composers draw portraits of heroic (and antiheroic) musical figures. Beethoven creates a portrait of power. The soloist for these concerts, Richard Goode, is known for music-making of tremendous emotional power. With Beethoven’s ultimate piano concerto, a well-known classic receives the most unique expression. Expect unexpected passions.

Salerno-
Sonnenberg

Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 3pm
Presented by Thompson Coburn LLP

Vasily Petrenko, conductor
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin

ELGAR Cockaigne Overture
BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5

With the Bruch concerto, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is given a melody that never stops from beginning to end. Watch where it takes her. She nearly took the roof off Powell Hall when she played Tchaikovsky two seasons ago. Just as well, Shostakovich is sure to give you a view of the sky.