Composer

Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra – Pictures at an Exhibition Conducted by Matthew Wood

Queensland Conservatorium

One of the boldest virtuosos this century plays Bach & more.

Cameron Carpenter, Organ

The Church of St. John the Divine

The centerpiece of the Symphonic Band’s first spring concert is Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Maurice Ravel and transcribed for band by Paul Lavender). The pictures the work depicts were created by Mussorgsky’s friend, artist Viktor Hartmann. Following Hartmann’s untimely death, the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg exhibited his work, and after touring the exhibition, Mussorgsky was inspired to compose the score.

EPSG:4326

Symphonic Band

Northwestern University

Since becoming Music Director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra in 2023, Chad Goodman has been praised for taking the orchestra to new artistic heights and dramatically expanding its impact in the community. In his first two seasons he led the ESO premieres of more than a dozen works, increased community engagement through run-out concerts and engaging presentations in Elgin and neighboring cities, and spearheaded the orchestra’s first ever Día de los Muertos concert, uniting the symphony with folkloric dance and vocals in a city-wide cultural celebration.

Pictures at an Exhibition

Hemmens Auditorium

Join us for our closing Masterworks concert of the season with an evening of orchestral splendor featuring harpist Courtney Hershey-Bress. The program includes Berlioz’s spirited Hungarian March, Michael Daugherty’s captivating Harp of the Age, and Mussorgsky’s iconic Pictures at an Exhibition.

Orchestral Brilliance

Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts

In collaboration with the University of Northern Colorado choirs, your Greeley Philharmonic brings you a night of masterful works. Be immersed in a daring prison escape with Beethoven’s Fidelio Overture. Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition brings Viktor Hartmann’s artwork to life. In the second half, the choir and orchestra combine with Vaughan Williams’ “Serenade to Music,” which pays homage to Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. To end your Greeley Philharmonic’s 114th season, the combined ensemble performs Bernstein’s Hebrew Chichester Psalms. You don’t want to miss the season finale!

Beethoven to Bernstein

Union Colony Civic Center

A powerful program that bridges sound, imagery, and urgent storytelling. Mussorgsky’s iconic Pictures at an Exhibition is brought to life with film, transforming this classic suite into a multi-sensory journey through music and art.

Paired with it is The Bird-While by Gala Flagello, a 2024 Sousa-ABA Ostwald Composition Contest finalist. This striking concerto for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and winds—based on Keith Taylor’s poem “Acolytes in the Bird-While”—explores the beauty of Michigan’s ecosystems and the human struggle to persist in the face of climate change. Featuring guest soloists from "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, this performance brings extraordinary artistry to a message of environmental urgency.

Wake Forest University

Josh Jones will play Procession, Jessie Montgomery's inventive percussion concerto. Mussorgsky's colorful Pictures at an Exhibition in Ravel's iconic orchestration will complete the program.

Ohio Wesleyan University

Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts

April 2026 Concert

Downey Theatre

Travel through time and imagination in this dynamic program featuring Renaissance dances, bold brass, and a musical masterpiece inspired by visual art.



The evening opens with lively selections from Susato’s The Danserye, followed by the world premiere of The Distant Band by Steven Juliani, performed by the acclaimed Seraph Brass quintet. We close with Mussorgsky’s dramatic Pictures at an Exhibition—a timeless journey through a gallery in sound.

A Dance Through the Gallery

Meyerson Symphony Center

Leigh Barrett is a beloved Boston-based actor, singer and director. Although she received her Bachelor's degree in Voice Performance, opera emphasis, from Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory in Ohio, she has found her home in musical theatre. 

Her very first stage was her parent's living room and every guest got treated to a show. There were costume changes, guest stars (her little sister Sue),  a jump rope microphone, and complicated choreography (the very advanced step, touch, and turn around).

From there she joined her church and high school choirs. And although she didn't really know what a "career" in music or acting was, she followed her best friend to Ohio to major in Music Education. Scared off by a middle school choir and shop class (don't ask), she switched her major to Voice Performance (because that’s not scary!). After graduation, she was cast in Little Shop of Horrors and she knew she had found her place. 

April 11 & 12, 2026

Greenwich High School

Modest Mussorgsky’s inspiration for “Pictures at an Exhibition” came from an art exhibition of paintings by his recently departed friend, Viktor Hartmann. Full of emotional ups and downs, this masterpiece takes you on a vivid journey through Mussorgsky’s imagination with each note echoing the brush strokes of a different painting. Premiered in May 2023, “Harp of Ages” reflects on one of the oldest instruments – the harp. Featuring seven eclectic pieces each inspired by a memorable figure associated with the harp including comedian Harpo Marx, poet Sister Juana of Mexico, and from the original Star Trek TV series, Nyota Uhura.

Harp of Ages & Pictures at an Exhibition

McAninch Arts Center

Honored by the League of American Orchestras, guest conductor Daniel Hege returns to Chapman Music Hall to lead the orchestra in a dark and mysterious concert that replicates the tone of the opera Khovanshchina. Rich harmonies evoke a feeling of dawn over Moscow for the audience in Tulsa's Performing Arts Center. Thereafter, enjoy the expressive work of Ruth Gipps's Horn Concerto, Op. 58, which features a three-movement piece, each with its own character and mood, ending on a lively and rhythmic passage. Hege leads the orchestra into the final and majestic selection of Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C major, D.944, “The Great.” This four-movement piece travels through a bold, relaxed, lively, and triumphant orchestral journey. A concert not to be missed!

Vi: Schubert's Symphony No. 9, "the Great"

Tulsa Performing Arts Center

“I wanted to express the moment, the so-called ‘shock of realization,’ when you reach the edge of the continental landmass,” wrote the American composer John Adams about his composition Dharma at the Big Sur . The concerto for six-string electric violin and orchestra was composed in 2003 for the opening of the Walt Disney Company’s Big Sur International Theatre.

6th Symphony Concert | Good Friday Concert - Earth

Congress Palace Kassel City Hall

In the dark heart of a continent on the brink of war, a violin catches fire. Three robed priests vent their pain and rage, in molten, tactile paint. And a hut on hen’s legs flies through a fairytale forest. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but music can paint pictures that haven’t even been imagined. Tonight, Edward Gardner is the curator of a sonic picture gallery: presenting powerful 20th-century masterpieces by Mark-Anthony Turnage and Bartók alongside Mussorgsky’s multicoloured, hugely popular Pictures at an Exhibition. Let your ears be your eyes, and hear them come to life.

Southbank Centre

Two timeless classics, two modern original compositions performed by their composers. Special guest Kebra-Seyoun Charles performs their composition Nightlife: Concerto for Bass; Michigan premiere of Trance by Music Director Fouad Fakhouri; plus Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition with visual effects.

SBSO: Music Reframed: Pictures at an Exhibition

Temple Theatre

Two timeless classics, two modern original compositions performed by their composers. Special guest Kebra-Seyoun Charles, rising star of the orchestra landscape, performs their composition Nightlife: Concerto for Bass following the concerto’s recent premiere at Carnegie Hall, followed with the Michigan premiere of Trance, an original composition by our own composer and Music Director, Fouad Fakhouri. Also featured in the program is Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

SBSO: Pictures at an Exhibition

Pictures at the Symphony

Robinson Center

A grieving composer captured an artist's work in a suite of piano pieces. Later, that music lit a fire in the genius orchestrator Maurice Ravel to create one of the best-loved works in the concert hall. Experience Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition through the dynamic power of a world-class orchestra. Guest conductor Kevin John Edusei leads the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the heel-kicking Hungarian folk suite Dances of Galanta. In between, the ASO welcomes violin soloist Isabelle Faust for the elegiac Violin Concerto No. 2 by Bela Bartók.

The Woodruff Arts Center

Imagery and sensual sound are the key concepts of the concert program of French music, in which the name Thierry Escaich (*1965) stands out. He is among the crème de la crème of organists of our time and was appointed titular organist of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris when the famous church was ceremoniously reopened in December 2024 after a devastating fire. At the same time, Escaich is one of the leading French composers of our time. With this dual talent, he continues a venerable tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. We welcome him to Dortmund in this dual role: as soloist in his organ concerto Quatre Visages du temps . Escaich is above all a master of timbre, who drew inspiration for this large-scale, four-movement work from a journey through musical history, from the Baroque passacaglia to contemporary disco music.

6th Philharmonic Concert

Konzerthaus Dortmund

Discover the Bay Philharmonic like never before in this  brand-new Chamber Event.

Friendship, collaboration, and community all played significant roles in the story of Pictures at an Exhibition, contributing to the incredibly colorful work that has become a beloved staple in orchestra repertoire since its premiere over a century ago. 

This intimate, behind-the-scenes concert offers a rare chance to connect deeply with the artistry of Bay Phil musicians and enjoy incredible music. Seating is limited — secure your spot today!

Deconstructed: The Orchestra Unpacked

CIEL Creative Space

Is there a more beautiful violin concerto than Bruch’s? Probably not, especially when it’s played by Elli Choi on her stunning Stradivarius. In Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, colourfully orchestrated by Maurice Ravel, beautiful paintings come to life. This will be a great Sunday morning in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, full of the kind of melodies you’ll walk out humming.

Bruch’s Violin Concerto and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition

The Concertgebouw

Edwar Elgar sat down at the piano after a tiring day of lessons and played a random melody that caught his wife’s attention. Without further ado, he began to improvise variations on this enchanting melody, inspired by the different characters of his friends and activities around him: a »gruff disposition«, a »stuttering girlfriend«, his first attempts at playing the piano, a dog tumbling down an embankment, or – not to be forgotten – the world-famous »Nimrod« variation, with which Elgar honours his best friend. The solution to the riddle, the enigma of the variations, which according to Elgar is hidden within the composition, remains unsolved to this day.

NDR Youth Symphony Orchestra / Stefan Geiger

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

With a stage name inspired by a martial arts icon and karting as a hobby, Bruce Liu is full of surprises. Just like his incredibly colourful piano playing, which has catapulted him into the premier league of the classical music world. Bruce Liu was born in Paris and grew up in Canada, but it was not least his Asian roots that shaped him. ‘I realise that the history of China - Confucianism, Taoism - is in my blood. But I am also closely connected to European culture through my profession.’ His touch definitely has a French vein, is elegant and incredibly light, while a haunting tension simmers beneath the surface. Excellent prerequisites for Tchaikovsky's legendary first piano concerto, which covers every emotional range from sensitive tenderness to an almost uncontrollable outburst of energy. Modest Mussorgsky's ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’, which will be performed by the renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kazuki Yamada in the second half of the concert, evokes fewer emotional states, but instead marvellous visual associations. (Pro Arte Frankfurt)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Alte Oper

Impressive, athletic – and so vivid that individual scenes of our antics will be clearly recognizable: We are looking forward to performing a few lighthearted musical recreations under the direction of Robert Treviño. We will be playing a musical team game composed by Charles Ives, and our audience can look forward to seeing how this "Football Game," complete with woven-in fan chants and a referee's whistle to ensure fair play, unfolds. 

Visiting Erlangen

Heinrich-Lades-Halle

Impressive, athletic – and so vivid that individual scenes of our antics will be clearly recognizable: We are looking forward to performing a few lighthearted musical recreations under the direction of Robert Treviño. We will be playing a musical team game composed by Charles Ives, and our audience can look forward to seeing how this "Football Game," complete with woven-in fan chants and a referee's whistle to ensure fair play, unfolds. The composer himself described the piece as a "caricature in two two-minute halves" and added: "Funny to listen to – but difficult to play!" We will also present the equally witty pranks of Till Eulenspiegel, that profound rogue whom Richard Strauss captured with all manner of mischief – and with such delight, because he wanted to hear "the people in the concert hall really laugh.

Robert Treviño, Janos Wollenweber

Bamberger Symphoniker

Rossini’s bright and sunny overture preludes one of the most famous and popular of all concertos, suffused with the sun-drenched melodies and balmy atmosphere of southern Spain; its achingly beautiful slow movement is perhaps the most sublime pieces of music ever written. The Spanish passion continues with Chabrier’s dazzling rhapsody and Rimsky-Korsakov’s vibrant and colourful suite. In contrast, Borodin’s tone poem evokes the sweeping plains of central Asia, whilst nightmarish visions abound in Mussorgsky’s dark and brooding depiction of a Witches Sabbath.

Classic FM Hall of Fame The greatest works in classical music

Lighthouse, Poole's Centre for the Arts

Sharks are curious – and students even more so! With our specially designed student concerts, we bring classical music directly into the everyday life of schools in Saxony-Anhalt. Whether in the concert hall or on-site at the school: familiar works, exciting composers, and relevant topics seamlessly connect to music lessons – live, lively, and age-appropriate.

3rd Student Concert

nt-Saal

Europagymnasium "Walther Rathenau"

Theater Eisleben

Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium Zeitz

Set sail on a breathtaking musical journey where the power and beauty of water come to life through sound. From the mysterious dawn of Mussorgsky’s Prelude to Khovantchina to the serene optimism of Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, the evening flows with evocative imagery. Cuong’s Re(new)al surges forward with exciting rhythms, as the GRAMMY®-nominated Sandbox Percussion Quartet channels the energy of hydro, wind, and solar power. Sibelius’ The Oceanides shimmers with Nordic elegance before Debussy’s La Mer washes over the audience in a mesmerizing display of orchestral brilliance. Let the waves of music carry you away!

Waves & Wonder

Williamsburg Community Chapel

You’re invited to Mussorgsky’s musical “gallery crawl,” where you’ll encounter the titular pictures on exhibit, ten in all, plus “traveling music” in-between. Special highlights include the opening “Promenade,” as you stride into the gallery; the whimsical unhatched baby chicks pecking their way out of their shells; spooky Parisian “Catacombs;” and “The Great Gate of Kiev,” shaking you with the resounding pealing of bells in the grand finale. Artist-in-Residence Leonidas Kavakos takes a turn on the podium at this concert and leads our concertmaster in Prokofiev’s Concerto that both sparkles and dances with vibrantly colored passages, ending in a tumultuous flurry of notes.

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center

Denver favorite Olga Kern returns, lending dazzling technique and searing musicianship to Shostakovich’s witty Piano Concerto No. 1. The piece – a rule-breaking, neo-baroque romp filled with sardonic humor, parody, and fleeting musical quotes – is actually a double concerto supported by string orchestra in which the piano converses with solo trumpet, played by our inimitable Principal Trumpet Justin Bartels.

Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 with Olga Kern

Denver Performing Arts Complex

For our second Masterworks, we welcome violinist Hina Khuong-Huu, winner of the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition, whose expressive brilliance and fiery virtuosity will ignite Prokofiev’s darkly lyrical Second Violin Concerto. Framing the program are two vivid fairytales: Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, a gripping, ghostly tone poem made famous by Fantasia, and Tchaikovsky’s luminous Sleeping Beauty Suite, culminating in the waltz beloved the world over. As a final touch of enchantment, we close with the glittering Waltz from Swan Lake.

Into the Night

Lyric Theatre

Vero Beach Country Club

Celebrated violinist Gil Shaham showcases “the queen of instruments” in Bruch’s Romantic Concerto. Then, think of Pictures as a musical gallery crawl. Come along as your “mind’s ears” conjure the pictures on exhibit—ten in all, plus “traveling music” in-between—starting with the “Promenade,” as the viewer strides into the gallery. Highlights include eerie Parisian “Catacombs” and “The Great Gate of Kiev,” shaking you with the tumultuous pealing of bells in the grand finale.

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Explore vivid musical landscapes and bold orchestral color! Mussorgsky’s serene Dawn on the Moskva River sets a tranquil mood, followed by Angel Lam’s captivating new commission making its world premiere. The program concludes with Stravinsky’s electrifying Rite of Spring, brimming with primal rhythms and daring artistry.

Masterworks IV: The Rite of Spring

Adler Theatre

Centennial Hall Auditorium

Visual art has inspired music for centuries. The art of Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, and Viktor Hartmann will be projected over the orchestra as the KSO performs the works evoked by them. Local Ryle H.S. graduate and CCM student Andrew Strawn’s Flowers from Vincent receives its world premiere, along with an area premiere of Michael Daugherty’s Warhol inspired work.  Modest Mussorgsky’s war-horse (orchestrated by Ravel) closes the program spotlighting visual art.

Gallerie Fantastique

Greaves Concert Hall

Get ready for a night of sonic fireworks and bold musical colour at Slavic Virtuosity: Prokofiev & Mussorgsky. Conductor Thomas Leduc-Moreau leads the NSO through a program brimming with passion and power, starting with Valentyn Silvestrov’s “Silent Music”, a haunting and meditative gem that whispers its emotional depth. The evening’s centrepiece features world-renowned cellist Stéphane Tétreault in Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev’s brilliant Symphonie Concertante, op. 125—a virtuosic tour-de-force that’s equal parts elegance and electricity.

Then, prepare to be dazzled by Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, in the shimmering orchestration by Ravel—a vivid, musical stroll through an imaginary art gallery that bursts with character and drama.

Slavic Virtuosity: Prokofiev & Mussorgsky

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Want to win at musical Trivial Pursuit? Not embarrassed to be called a classical music geek? The Oregon Symphony is here to lend a hand with a new series, “Naked Classics.” (Not to worry—everyone involved will be fully clothed!) We’ll do our first deep dive into one of the most popular, most requested pieces in the repertoire: Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Join us for a 60-minute exploration with Paul Rissmann, a presenter with impressive creds. He’ll do “live” program notes from the stage, the orchestra will play excerpts as he breaks down the composition into component parts, and then he’ll put it all back together again. The icing on this musical cake: a complete performance of Pictures that you’ll now hear with “brand-new ears.” Getting the inside scoop on classical music has never been so much fun.

Naked Classics: Pictures at the Exhibition

Unsuk Chin composed Frontispiece as a timelapse through musical history, taking and reinterpreting the styles and flourishes of several significant composers, from Tchaikovsky and Strauss to Webern and Stravinsky. It is kaleidoscopic in its construction; contrasting fragments from vastly different musical periods work together to create something entirely unique.

Side-By-Side: The Hallé and Hallé Youth Orchestra

The Bridgewater Hall

Two generations of Hallé musicians team up to perform alongside each other in this artistic duo of works. Unsuk Chin composed Frontispiece as a timelapse through musical history, taking and reinterpreting the styles and flourishes of several significant composers, from Tchaikovsky and Strauss to Webern and Stravinsky. It is kaleidoscopic in its construction; contrasting fragments from vastly different musical periods work together to create something entirely unique. This theme continues with Ravel’s orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Originally composed just for solo piano, the work leads the listener through several eclectic movements, each representing a painting by the artist Viktor Hartmann. Like Unsuk Chin’s piece, it is a kind of musical patchwork and, with Ravel’s orchestration, it utilises all the instrumental families to their full effect.

The Hallé & Hallé Youth Orchestra: Side by Side

The ensembles present a joint concert featuring selections they will perform at the annual OMEA Conference.*

Women's Glee Club and Symphony Orchestra give OMEA Preview

Weigel Auditorium

Musorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition has thrilled audiences and inspired musicians since its 1874 premiere—including the 1970s rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Dream along with this powerful, beautiful, evocative music. Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Du Yun's Ears of the Book is a virtuosic concerto for award-winning pipa master Wu Man.

Pictures from an Exhibition

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

The program showcases Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The vibrant musical depictions of Viktor Hartmann’s paintings, including the majestic Great Gate of Kiev, have been inspiring audiences for generations. Fourteen-year-old Japanese violinist Himari has been described as a once-in-a-generation talent. The prodigy will perform Bruch’s richly Romantic Violin Concerto No. 1. Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Abels is best known for his genre-defying scores for the Jordan Peele films Get Out, Us, and Nope. His work Amplify was co-commissioned by Sarasota Orchestra.

State College of Florida - SCF Bradenton

Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

Under the inspired direction of Diego Ceretta, principal conductor of the ORT-Orchestra of Florence, the Orchestre National Montpellier transports you from ancient tragedy to the splendors of Rome, from Viennese salons to the pictorial visions of Mussorgsky. The evening opens with the poignant Cede pietati, dolor by Silvia Colasanti, an immersion with expressive textures in the tragic world of Medea. Then Respighi unfolds his Fontane di Roma , a true pictorial symphony where the water games of the Roman fountains gush through the orchestra and where each sound tableau is a celebration of light and movement. After the intermission, Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales evoke the elegance of the 19th century in the refined language of the early modernity of the 20th century . Finally, here are Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition . Orchestrated by Ravel, this masterpiece is a veritable sound museum where each piece brilliantly depicts an imaginary canvas.

Opéra Berlioz

Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong leads the program including the Phoenix Symphony debut of Cellist Sterling Elliott in Haydn’s charming Cello Concerto No. 2. Gabriela Ortiz’s Antrópolis which paints Mexico City’s exciting nightlife with vibrant musical brush complements an exciting program that concludes with Maurice Ravel’s masterful orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Phoenix Convention Center

Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza provides a thrilling opening to a concert of music mixing savage drama with the sweetest possible melodies. Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto was written in only a few days in an unstoppable flow of passion and inspiration, while Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition (fabulously orchestrated by Maurice Ravel) mourns the tragic early death of an artist friend; the music rages against the cruelty of his fate, remembers the sweetness of shared experiences, and in the last movement, “The Great Gate of Kiev”, fills us all with hope for a better future.

Drama and Pathos: Goosby Plays Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

Jacobs Music Center

Never one to shy away from a challenge, Yuja Wang does double duty in two virtuosic piano concertos: Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand, which transforms an apparent limitation into a jaw-dropping tour de force, alongside Ligeti’s fiendishly playful contribution to the genre. Czech conductor Petr Popelka continues the celebrations for Ravel’s 150th birthday with the composer’s magnificent orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Yuja Wang Plays Ravel

Severance Music Center

Filarmonica della Scala / Robert Treviño / Arsenii Moon

Teatro alla Scala

Claire Huangci caused a sensation last year with her CD "Made in USA," and also delighted the Blaibach audience with works from it. Now she returns to the concert hall with a spectacular program—piano artistry of the highest order.

Piano recital Claire Huangci

Blaibach Concert Hall

Join the MSO for The Ravel Experience, a concert that explores Ravel’s extraordinary gift for creating rich, imaginative soundscapes.

The Ravel Experience

Living Arts Centre

Rainbow Body, a luminous work by American composer Christopher Theofanidis weaves ancient and modern worlds together to take us on a spellbinding journey. Inspired by the chant Ave Maria by medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen, the piece reimagines her melodies in lush, cinematic orchestration. Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 is a showcase of elegance and virtuosity brought to life with wit and charm by internationally acclaimed Alban Gerhardt who makes his fifth appearance with us. He is beloved by our musicians and audiences. Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition orchestrated by Ravel is a feast for the senses painting vivid musical portraits. Each movement captures a visual scene, from the playful “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks” to the majestic “Great Gate of Kiev.” With its dazzling colors and bold drama this music will take you on an unforgettable exploration of sound and imagination.

Radiance

Overture Center for the Arts

Violin superstar Joshua Bell performs Thomas de Hartmann’s Violin Concerto, a rediscovered gem full of drama, technical virtuosity, and beautiful motifs. Grace-Evangeline Mason’s The Imagined Forest takes the audience on a journey through the fantasy, folklore, and danger of the woodlands. Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition with its distinct storytelling, hilarious characters, and epic finale, unfolds like a vivid musical gallery, each movement painting a scene. Fast-rising star Jonathon Heyward leads the program.

Joshua Bell and Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

Boston Symphony Orchestra

This year, at the children’s concert, we will get to know the musicians of the symphony orchestra more closely. Benjamin Britten wrote his famous Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra for the London Symphony Orchestra with the aim of teaching listeners to recognize and appreciate the different instruments and sections of a symphony orchestra. In the second half of the concert, we will hear Modest Mussorgsky’s much-loved cycle Pictures at an Exhibition, which will be accompanied by an animation of the same title by Japanese artist Osamu Tezuka.

Growing Up with Music. The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

Estonia Concert Hall

Perhaps the most gifted classical pianist of our time, Evgeny Kissin takes centre stage with two rarely-performed jewels of the piano concerto repertoire.

Admired – even venerated – as the heir of the great Russian piano tradition, Kissin has an impressive list of awards, firsts and ‘youngest-evers’ to his name, including a Grammy for his recording of Prokofiev piano concertos with the Philharmonia.

His extraordinary programme brings together two bold, brilliant piano concertos by Prokofiev and Scriabin, alongside two dramatic Russian symphonic tone poems: Rachmaninov’s evocative The Rock, and Mussorgsky’s stormy A Night on the Bare Mountain which promises to thrill audiences with its wild and terrifying Witches’ Sabbath.

Evgeny Kissin: one concert, two concertos

Students join forces with Connaught Brass in a powerful tribute concert honouring the legendary conductor and composer Elgar Howarth, former Director of Brass Ensembles at the Academy. Renowned trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger takes the podium to conduct, paying homage to his influential mentor.

Remembering Elgar Howarth

Royal Academy of Music

In preparing for TMSO’s 20th anniversary season, Music Director Travis Cook reflected on music performed over the past 19 years.  He noted that music can be many different things to many different people.  This fall, he will pick up his baton and lead audiences on an emotional journey that offers answers to what "Music Is..."

Music Is...

Grace Christian Church

Troy Community Center

Faith Baptist Church

In this spellbinding program, Music Director Jonathon Heyward illuminates four symphonic portraits, drawing on the unique qualities of each instrument to create vivid, dramatic, and colorful effects. Scriabin’s Prometheus: Poem of Fire features an epic orchestra, choir, piano soloist, and color projections for a truly mesmerizing experience.

Symphonic Poetry: Magic, Fire & Light

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Modest Mussorgsky’s national folk drama centres on a grim episode of late 17th-century Russian history. Ivan Khovansky, leader of the musketeer corps (streltsy), and his son Andrei, are planning a conspiracy, but the ambitious Prince Vasily Golitsyn, the boyar Shaklovity and cleric Dosifey also get involved in the struggle for power.

Khovanshchina

Bebelplatz

A ruler wracked with guilt, power-greedy conspirators, a fickle people and a monk, who writes history, in the true sense of the word: Boris Godunov is crowned Tsar, to the delight of the people, after Dimitri, legitimate heir to the throne, was murdered. The monk Pimen naming the ruler as the murderer in his chronicles of Russian history inspires the novice Grigori to pass himself off as Dimitri, who escaped with his life after all, and lay claim to the throne, backed by ambitious Marina, Polish Voyevoda's daughter. While Boris struggles with ghosts of the past, the Boyars wonder how to get rid of the new usurper, but the »fake Dimitri« ends up being crowned Tsar.

Boris Godunov

Oper Frankfurt

From haunting drama to epic adventure, this evening explores the deep connection between orchestral music and film. Mussorgsky’s thrilling Night on Bald Mountain, famously featured in Disney’s Fantasia, sets the stage with its dark, dramatic energy. Vaughan Williams’ lyrical Prelude from 49th Parallel captures the emotional heart of a wartime story, while Hanson’s lush and romantic Symphony No. 2, used in the final scene of Alien, showcases emotional depth behind bold storytelling.

YOSA Presents: Cinema Classics

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

Our classical season opens with a majestic celebration of some of the most beloved masterworks. International sensation, Sterling Elliott, brings his remarkable artistry to the stage as he joins us for Tchaikovsky's elegant Rococo Variations. Then, the orchestra takes the spotlight, showcasing its full virtuosity in Mussorgsky's colorful and imaginative Pictures at an Exhibition, a powerful musical journey through art and storytelling.

Pictures At An Exhibition

Visalia Fox Theatre

This concert is a celebration of everything stirring and sensuous in Romantic music, led by Chief Conductor Simone Young.

Sydney Opera House

"Dawn over the Moskva" is also the name given to the orchestral prelude to Modest Mussorgsky's opera Khovanshchina . Will it be another gloomy day, or will the skies clear up over the world? Music Director Vladimir Jurowski begins the new concert season of the Music Academy with enchantingly beautiful music from times of turmoil – music full of longing and desire, evoking memories of better days and hope for happier ones. Yves Savary, principal cellist of the Bavarian State Orchestra, performs Dmitri Shostakovich's Second Cello Concerto, which, according to his biography Krzysztof Meyer, is "perhaps the best of all his instrumental concertos," in which one finds "all the characteristics of Shostakovich's symphonic style": "the broad vocal quality, the expansive formal scope, the vitality and movement, as well as the humor and grotesque." Hans Zender, the subtle yet far-sighted composer, virtually invented a new genre in his late work: the "composed interpretation." Using his own compositional means, he quotes, overwrites, counterpoints, and transcends Robert Schumann's Fantasy for Piano Solo, supplemented by a Prelude and two Interludes, into a genuine orchestral work through which Schumann's original—here labeled "Ruins," "Triumphal Arch," and "Starry Night"—repeatedly shines through and blossoms: a magical sonic experience that transcends time and time again.

1st Academy Concert: Vladimir Jurowski

Max-Joseph-Platz

AI can do many things, perhaps even compose, but can it carry a bucket of water up 192 steps? No, poor humans still have to do that themselves. Humans, however, are something that has been overcome anyway...

Bird's Eye View

Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen

Guest Concert

Jugendstil-Festhalle

Violins whisper like the wind on a stormy night, the brass section pierces through the orchestra like flashes of lightning, and cellos and basses tremble, spreading unease… In just a few bars, certain pieces conjure an atmosphere perfectly suited to a time of year when terror and death are embraced rather than feared. Under the baton of Naomi Woo, Liszt’s diabolical Mephisto Waltz, Mussorgsky’s haunting Night on Bald Mountain, Verdi’s enchanting Witches’ Dance from Macbeth and Augusta Holmès’s epic Andromeda bring timeless stories and legends to life.

Symphonic Spells

Mercier Public Library

Paroisse Notre Dame de l'Annonciation

Place des Arts

Paroisse St-Joachim de Pointe-Claire

What would a painting sound like if it were music? The Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky tried it out and the result was his famous "Pictures at an Exhibition". On a bustling market, vendors quarrel, a limping gnome sneaks by, chirping chicks hatch from their eggshells and dance a ballet. Together with the orchestra and Malte Arkona, we also encounter the evil witch Baba Yaga, meet children playing in the park, visit an old castle, and walk through the Great Gate of Kiev. Can't imagine it? Then come with your class to the Kulturpalast for the school concert!

Pictures of an exhibition

Palace of Culture

Surround yourself with the frenzied sounds of dancing witches, spooky skeletons and swirling spirits in this witches brew of Halloweeen-themed classical favorites conducted by Guest Conductor David Ellis. You’ll be sleeping with the lights on for weeks after this one!

Diabolical Dances, Tricks and a Treat

Beachwood High School

The Göppingen Youth Symphony Orchestra is one of the ensembles offered by the Göppingen Municipal Youth Music School. It has won prizes in numerous competitions and is regularly invited to take part in international festivals. At the IX New York International Music Festival in Carnegie Hall, the Göppingen Youth Orchestra was awarded the gold medal. The ensemble has been featured on radio and television on numerous occasions. The conductor has been Martin Gunkel, City Music Director since 1989. The ensemble aims to promote children and young people's musical development and offer them the opportunity to play sophisticated orchestral music through the development of traditional and modern orchestral works. Furthermore, national prizewinners of the "Jugend musiziert" competition are given the opportunity to perform as soloists in concerts. Concert tours and international youth exchanges have taken the Göppingen Youth Symphony Orchestra to Spain, France, Norway, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Latvia, Great Britain, and the USA on numerous occasions.

Göppingen Youth Symphony Orchestra

Mozarteum Foundation

Calling all pirates, princesses, dragons, superheroes, ghosts, and goblins! Celebrate the spooky season with a night at
the Spooky Symphony, where you’ll hear spooky music and
soundtracks from Hollywood’s best spooky movies! Come in
costume for this fun-filled family concert!

Composer

Modest Mussorgsky

Events

Upcoming events

May 9, 2026

Family Concert: Pictures at an Exhibition · Bamberger Symphoniker

May 9, 2026

Pictures at an Exhibition-Season Finale · Las Vegas Philharmonic Guild

May 9, 2026

Russian Fireworks · Hobby Center for the Performing Arts

May 10, 2026

Side-by-Side · Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Association

May 15, 2026

Haozhou Wang, Piano · The Juilliard School

Past events

May 8, 2026

Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra – Pictures at an Exhibition Conducted by Matthew Wood · Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University

May 7, 2026

Cameron Carpenter, Organ · Performing Arts Houston

About

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