Composer

Experience unforgettable performances by your Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, featuring timeless masterpieces, thrilling premieres, and renowned guest artists.

Carnegie Hall Preview

Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts

This artist is simply incredible! In recent years, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko has collected first prizes at international piano competitions like other people collect stamps. He won three in 2022, and two more in 2024 – and those are just the most important competitions. To say that the Canadian is a magnificent pianist seems almost an understatement: Up and down the country, the press and audiences praise his outstanding technique, the depth of his interpretations, and his charisma. We will be hearing more from Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, that's for sure. And soon, at ProArte: At the Elbphilharmonie, the pianist will present sophisticated and virtuosic works from Bach to Scriabin.

EPSG:4326

Discover Talent: Jaeden Izik-Dzurko / Piano Recital

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein is joined by her great friends, violinist Stefan Jackiw and pianist Inon Barnatan, for an evening of vibrant chamber music. Having recorded Beethoven’s Triple Concerto together, the three musicians are turning their joint attention to some of the highlights of the trio repertoire.

Alisa Weilerstein & Friends

Southbank Centre

The Quatrâmes quartet's repertoire is vast, from baroque to classical, including arrangements of tangos, opera arias, and film music. These musicians, members of the Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie, will offer you unforgettable musical moments and share with you their passion and love for music.

Quatrâmes Quartet

Espace Culturel François Calvet

But Edward Gardner also conducts Rachmaninov’s sweeping Third Symphony – music filled with nostalgia, hope, and heartfelt melodies – and travels with the young British composer Robert Laidlow to the outer reaches of our galaxy, where he beams an urgent musical message back home to Earth.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason Plays Bloch

Music can take us to different worlds. For the LPO it’s always an adventure to play with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and tonight he summons up Bloch’s sumptuous vision of a Biblical past and a longed-for future. But Edward Gardner also conducts Rachmaninov’s sweeping Third Symphony – music filled with nostalgia, hope, and heartfelt melodies – and travels with the young British composer Robert Laidlow to the outer reaches of our galaxy, where he beams an urgent musical message back home to Earth. A very special moment in our Harmony with Nature season.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason plays Bloch

A quiet pulse, and a long, chant-like melody that seems to breathe the air of old Russia – it’s an unlikely way to begin one of the most difficult and brilliant piano concertos ever created. Rachmaninov’s Third has been called the “Everest of piano concertos” but if anyone’s equipped to scale it, it’s the superb young British virtuoso Isata Kanneh-Mason and the BBC SSO’s newly-appointed Principal Guest Conductor Delyana Lazarova.

Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto

Music Hall, Aberdeen

City Halls

This Welsh pianist may not be a household name in America, but his semi-annual performances on the series are highly-anticipated by pianophiles and music lovers alike. Williams brings his virtuosic technique and soulful phrasing in a wide-ranging program.

Llŷr Williams, piano Union College

Union College

Journey through musical brilliance with Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances! Music Director Emeritus Edvard Tchivzhel returns to the podium to lead a stunning program that begins with the sparkling wit of Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to Candide and the vibrant streetscapes of George Gershwin’s An American in Paris. The evening culminates with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, written during his time in California, blending lush melodies with a touch of American influence in his final masterpiece. Experience the artistry and energy of this unforgettable evening!

An American in Paris

Peace Center

Heartsong: Mendelssohn, Guo, & Rachmaninoff

University of Kentucky

Rachmaninov’s emotionally charged Symphony No3 is packed full of sweeping melodies and the bittersweet memories of the home he left behind. It’s the finale in our concert where classical meets jazz. First though, Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Hahn swaps podium for piano in Antheil’s A Jazz Symphony and pianist Frank Dupree takes centre stage with his jazz trio in Gershwin's hugely popular Piano Concerto in F. Join us for an electrifying night to remember.

Gershwin & Rachmaninov

Usher Hall

Explore the energy and svelte sounds of the saxophone, the adventurous youngest child of the orchestral whānau.

Symphonic Dances

Christchurch Town Hall

Michael Fowler Centre

Passion beyond reason. No-one who was present when the BBC SSO premiered Sir James MacMillan’s The Confession of Isobel Gowdie at the Proms in 1990 will forget the impact it made – a new voice in Scottish music, speaking with uncompromising emotional power. A landmark both in British music and the orchestra’s own history, we couldn’t celebrate our 90th season without Isobel Gowdie.

Rachmaninov's Second Symphony

Camerata Pacifica

The Huntington

Rimsky-Korsakov acknowledged his debt to Liszt for his concerto’s lyricism and virtuosity, but gave it a marked Russian flavour by using a Russian folk song as its main theme.

Evgeny Kissin: One Concert, Three Concertos

Love can be boundless happiness and fulfillment, but also deep sadness and pain. Sometimes all of these things at the same time, which doesn't necessarily make things easier. But above all, love is one thing: mysterious, unfathomable, and unpredictable. This is how Sergei Rachmaninoff, at 20, the prime age for great emotions, describes it in a magnificent tone poem which – another enigma – is extremely rarely performed despite its great beauty.

To you

Cologne Philharmonie

Miami Symphony Orchestra opens its 2025-26 season at the Knight Concert Hall November 16 with a powerful evening of symphonic beauty and emotional depth. Under the direction of Maestro Eduardo Marturet and featuring cellist Anna Litvinenko, this Grand Season Opening sets the tone for a year of unforgettable musical experiences.

Miami Symphony Orchestra: Grand Season Opening

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

The Miami Symphony Orchestra opens its 2025–2026 Season at the Knight Concert Hall on November 16 with a powerful evening of symphonic beauty and emotional depth. Under the direction of Maestro Eduardo Marturet and featuring cellist Anna Litvinenko, this Grand Season Opening sets the tone for a year of unforgettable musical experiences.

Grand Season Opening

A winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chee-Yun has performed with many of the world's foremost orchestras and conductors. Orchestral highlights include her tours of the United States with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and Japan with the NHK Symphony, a concert with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-Whun Chung that was broadcast on national television, and a benefit for UNESCO with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Avery Fisher Hall. A champion of contemporary music, Chee-Yun performed Christopher Theofanidis’ Violin Concerto conducted by David Alan Miller as part of the Albany Symphony's American Festival, in addition to performing Kevin Puts’ Violin Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. 

Chee-Yun, Violin

Greenwich High School

Rakhmaninov Schostakowitsch Borodin

Gasteig HP8

Adam Kerry Boyles leads a program rich in emotion and orchestral brilliance. Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, one of the most celebrated works for the instrument, performed by cellist Tommy Mesa. This sweeping, romantic masterpiece blends soaring melodies with moments of deep introspection, showcasing the cello’s expressive power.

Dvorák and Rachmaninoff

The Bushnell

HSO Masterworks Series: Dvorák and Rachmaninoff

Maxwell M. & Ruth R. Belding Theater

1st Youth Concert

Superstar saxophonist Kezia Colton showcases an exciting, uplifting programme of works by Rachmaninov, Piazzola, Pedro Iturralde and more, accompanied by the RCMJD Saxophone Quartet and pianist Craig White.

Classical Coffee Mornings: Kezia Colton

Royal Albert Hall

Can you hear the bells? Rachmaninoff’s choral symphony The Bells — inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s poem of the same name — evokes the experience of bells ringing through the phases of life, and features Cincinnati’s own May Festival Chorus. Then, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique takes you inside the delirious fever-dream of a young artist driven mad by unrequited love. Fueled by opium-induced hallucinations, the visions culminate in a sabbath dance where the bells toll a haunting clamor

The Bells & Symphonie Fantastique

Cincinnati Music Hall

St Giles Orchestra November 2025 Concert

St Andrew's Church

John Wilson, Henry Wood Chair of Conducting, leads the Academy Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Rachmaninov’s exuberant First Piano Concerto featuring the Academy's first Piano Laureate, Emanuil Ivanov.

John Wilson conducts the Academy Symphony Orchestra

Royal Academy of Music

DSO November 2025 Concert

First Baptist Church of Decatur

As daylight wanes and the air turns brisk, reconnect with the warmth of the SLSO and two of the most exhilarating and romantic pieces in orchestral music. Danish violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider showcases his exquisite virtuosity as he soars through Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Then the orchestra demonstrates what Music Director Stéphane Denève describes as “love in sounds” in a performance of Rachmaninoff’s breathtakingly beautiful Second Symphony.

Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff

Powell Hall

Victor Santiago Asuncion, Piano

Fox Cities Performing Arts Center

Hailed as the “reincarnation of Liszt” (Fanfare Magazine), Alexandre Kantorow is the youngest winner of the Gilmore Artist Award—one of the world’s most prestigious piano prizes. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience Kantorow’s artistry, sensitivity, and technical prowess on full display. Please note: the NSO does not perform on this program.

NSO Presents: Alexandre Kantorow

Kennedy Center

Symphony II:  Pianist Alexander Tutunov plays Tchaikovsky

Port Angeles High School

Start your weekend with our must-see Friday night concert series and social experience, Symphonic Piazza. Prepare to escape, mingle, and be entertained as you enjoy the perfect combination of a shorter format concert with enjoyable and engaging lobby activities to share with family, friends, and our musicians. It’s your new go-to date night! The fun continues in the lobby after the concert, as we’ll have even more memorable things for you to experience.

Rachmaninoff Celebration, Part 1

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2

Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts

Under the captivating direction of Nicolò Umberto Foron, experience a musical adventure where the shadows of your National Orchestra become accomplices in black magic and bursts of laughter.

Halloween Concert

Opéra Comédie

Montero Plays Rachmaninoff

Artis–Naples

To celebrate Halloween, step into the surreal atmosphere of Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead, accompanied by van Woerkum’s film of the same name, where the realms of fantasy and fear intertwine. The wild virtuosity of Liszt’s Totentanz (Dance of the Dead), performed by Goodwin Friesen, winner of the 2022 OSM Competition, captures the chilling battle between life and death. Prepare for an evening of spine-tingling mystery and excitement, capped off with festivities at the Maison Symphonique.

Isle of the Dead at the OSM

Place des Arts

Honored as Musical America’s “Musicians of the Year”, David Finckel and Wu Han are in high demand every season at the most prestigious chamber music concert venues across the US and abroad, with repertoire highlighting the most significant works for cello and piano.

David Finckel & Wu Han

Rice University

2018 WINNER OF THE GENEVA INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPETITION

Dmitry Shishkin

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center

It was a young, desperate love that inspired the young Frederic Chopin. Too shy to declare his feelings, he wrote: “I say to my piano what I would like to be saying to you…” The legendary Emanuel Ax performs Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. The Washington Post describes his artistry as “thoughtful, lyrical, lustrous…” “He has long been, and continues to be, one of the finest American pianists…” says The New York Times. This concert of great romantics also features Rachmaninoff’s ravishing Second Symphony.

Emanuel Ax Plays Chopin

Dominion Energy Center

Pure Fantasy

Mariposa County High School

Yosemite National Park

The Manassas Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro James Villani, proudly launches its 33rd season with the return of renowned American pianist Thomas Pandolfi.

Last dazzling MSO audiences with Liszt in 2022, Pandolfi returns to the stage to perform Rachmaninoff’s iconic Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor. Celebrated by The Washington Post as “a master of both the grand gesture and the sensual line” and lauded by D.C. Metro Arts for his “exhilarating… rare mix of technical accuracy and cool confidence,” Pandolfi promises an evening of unparalleled artistry.

The program includes Alexander Glazunov’s enchanting Autumn from The Seasons and Amy Beach’s trailblazing Gaelic Symphony in E Minor, a cornerstone of American classical music.

Romantic Impressions

Hylton Performing Arts Center

Under the baton of Maestro James Villani, the Manassas Symphony Orchestra proudly launches its 33rd season with the return of renowned American pianist Thomas Pandolfi performing Rachmaninoff’s iconic “Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor.” Celebrated by the Washington Post as “a master of both the grand gesture and the sensual line,” and lauded by D.C. Metro Arts for his “exhilarating...rare mix of technical accuracy and cool confidence,” Pandolfi promises an evening of unparalleled artistry. The program includes Alexander Glazunov’s enchanting “Autumn” from The Four Seasons and Amy Beach’s trailblazing “Gaelic Symphony in E Minor,” a cornerstone of American classical music.

Romantic Impressions With Thomas Pandolfi, piano

A radiant force in the new generation of pianists, Avery Gagliano brings insight, imagination, and a bold interpretive voice to the stage. Hailing from Washington, D.C., Gagliano is a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and a mentee of Sir András Schiff at the Kronberg Academy in Germany. Lauded by The Philadelphia Inquirer as “a pianist who conveys a vivid musical personality and bold imagination,” Gagliano is a familiar and beloved presence on Washington Performing Arts stages. Her program traverses Romantic fervor, American lyricism, Hungarian fire, and the introspective intensity of late-Romantic Russian works—each piece a canvas for her expressive brilliance.

Avery Gagliano, piano

Washington Performing Arts

Rebecca Tong conducts an eclectic program featuring Vadym Kholodenko in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4. Korngold’s thrilling Seahawk Overture and Eunike Tanzil’s Origin offer fresh sonic landscapes, while Stravinsky’s neoclassical Symphony in Three Movements provides a rhythmic and dynamic close to a program of music by American immigrants.

Coming to America: Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky & Korngold

Hilbert Circle Theatre

Storm-swept vistas, glowing colours, and melodies that sing straight from the heart … if you had to imagine the perfect Romantic orchestral work, it’d probably sound very like Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony.

Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony

The many faces of Mozart make for an enthralling first half, containing the dark sonorities of his dignified memorial, a concerto of regal pomp and elegance and an overture that offers us all the turmoil, tenderness and hope of a full opera distilled into its compact curtain-raiser.

Saffron Hall

Our orchestra gives its very first performance of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1, unveiling a masterpiece brimming with youthful intensity and the raw vulnerability of a composer establishing his voice.

Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1

Salt Palace Convention Center

Start your morning off right with a behind-the-scenes look at the process of bringing our concerts to the stage. Finishing Touches gives our audience the opportunity to observe working rehearsals; selections from the program will be rehearsed at the discretion of the conductor.

Our orchestra gives its very first performance of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1, unveiling a masterpiece brimming with youthful intensity and the raw vulnerability of a composer establishing his voice.

Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1: Finishing Touches Rehearsal

What an opening! The Berlin Symphony Orchestra kicks off the new season and its first symphony concert with the overture to Richard Wagner's opera "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg." The rest of the program more than lives up to its motto "Piano & Forte." Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 impresses with its famous, expansive opening theme. Sergei V. Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 begins no less impressively, with eight chords reminiscent of the tolling of bells.

Piano & Forte

Berliner Philharmonie

The sumptuous themes of a Russian Romantic unite with rock-infused saxophone riffs in our stirring season opener. Rachmaninoff's supremely melodic Symphony No. 2 returns after Jayce Ogren made his brilliant Monterey Symphony debut with it in the spring of 2022. Trailblazing saxophonist Timothy McAllister also returns for the world premiere of a concerto called Anemology by GRAMMY-winning American composer Steven Mackey (whose Turn The Key we heard in Jayce's debut season). Born from his background as a rock guitarist, Mackey's music spins improvisatory motifs into large-scale works both grooving and dramatic.

Saxophone Concerto + Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2

Sunset Center Theater

We’ve loaded this concert with cinematic drama. Eidelman’s world premiere of The Tempest evokes a storm of Shakespearean mystery, Elfman’s Sleepy Hollow casts an orchestral chill through the hall, while Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead is gorgeously gothic. Finally, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite swoops in and sets the evening ablaze. It’s mythical, magical, and musically magnetic in the best way. This one’s for the movie lovers, the fantasy fans, the thrill-seekers. You don’t need to know classical music to enjoy it… You just need a pulse!

The Firebird

The University of Akron

The Modesto Symphony Orchestra is kicking off their 95th Season by rolling out the red carpet! Celebrate the cinematic sounds of Hollywood with John Williams’ Cello Concerto, a bold and expressive work that will feature Turlock native, Timothy Loo. The evening will conclude with Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 taking you on a rapturous journey through lyrical swells of color and harmony.

Williams & Rachmaninoff

Gallo Center for the Arts

The Modesto Symphony Orchestra is kicking off their 95th Season by rolling out the red carpet! Celebrate the cinematic sounds of Hollywood with John Williams’ Cello Concerto, a bold and expressive work that will feature Turlock native, Timothy Loo. The evening will conclude with Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 that’ll take you on a rapturous journey through lyrical swells of color and harmony.

Modesto Symphony Orchestra - Williams & Rachmaninoff

The Delaware Symphony Orchestra’s Opening Night launches a thrilling new era with a program overflowing with energy and emotion. The celebration begins with Shostakovich’s Festive Overture — a whirlwind of brass and brilliance that practically bursts with excitement. Then, brace yourself for the sheer virtuosity of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, a piece so intense and powerful it’s become the ultimate test for pianists. Finally, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony brings the drama, with heart-pounding intensity, soaring melodies, and a finale that feels like a victory lap.

Virtuosity Unleashed: A New Era

The Grand Opera House

Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming draws inspiration from the vivid imagery of nature's beauty and the urgent need to protect our planet in Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene. This program seamlessly blends timeless classical works with modern compositions, reflecting our evolving relationship with the environment.

Renée Fleming, soprano

Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Distinguished Russian baritone Efím Zaválny is best known for his tenure as a soloist with the Mariinsky Theatre from 2016 to 2022. He has performed extensively with leading opera houses in Russia and internationally, including recent appearances with the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. Recognised with numerous awards, his repertoire spans opera and chamber music, reflecting his expressive artistry and versatility.

Efím Zaválny baritone & Rebekka Magomedova piano

The Bridgewater Hall

Masterworks I: Sounds of Hollywood

Placer High School Theater

Asian Tour: Japan and Thailand

Cultural Centre, Tochigi

Thailand Cultural Center, Bangkok

Hamamatsu Act Tower

Civic Assembly Hall, Nagoya

The Symphony Hall

Rexxam Hall, Takamatsu

Metropolitan Theatre, Tokyo

Tokyo Opera City Tower

Queen's Square Yokohama

Step into a world of fantasy and wild imagination. Don your mask and immerse yourself in the music and beauty of three iconic masterpieces as we kick off the 2025/2026 season.

Anna Clyne’s dazzling and dynamic opening piece captures the spirit of celebration and revelry.

Masquerade

California Theatre

Rachmaninoff’s ultra-Romantic Symphony No. 2 enfolds you with sweeping melodies, lush orchestrations, and inspired lyrical passages. The composer himself said: “Music is born only of the heart and it appeals to the heart. It is love.” You’ll need no further proof than this gorgeous work. Opening our concert is a piece by a titan among minimalists, Philip Glass. Our new Artist-in-Residence Simone Porter launches the Concerto with propulsive force, then invites you to lose yourself in the harmonies of the Adagio, and leaves you breathless in the sensational last movement—but gives you a final moment to dream about the journey you’ve just taken.

Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

The 66th season of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra opens with three blockbuster works. The festivities commence with Johannes Brahms’ ebullient Academic Festival Overture. University of Illinois faculty member Timothy Ehlen brings his virtuosity to Maurice Ravel’s splashy Piano Concerto. Sergei Rachmaninoff’s final composition for orchestra, the Symphonic Dances, is a brilliant work that also held great personal meaning for the composer. Hearing this masterpiece live is a thrill that audiences remember for a lifetime.

The Thrill of the Orchestra

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

The 66th Season of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra opens with three blockbuster works. The festivities commence with Brahms' ebullient Academic Festival Overture. University of Illinois faculty member Timothy Ehlen brings his virtuosity to Ravel's splashy Piano Concerto. Rachmaninoff's final composition for orchestra, the Symphony Dances, is a brilliant work that also held great personal meaning for the composer. Hearing this masterpiece live is a thrill that audiences remember for a lifetime.

Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra: Season Opening: The Thrill of the Orchestra

Pianist Tony Siqi Yun approaches Rachmaninoff with “deep expressiveness” and “pure adrenaline” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), qualities that have marked him as the preeminent classical superstar born in this century. The electrifying ardor of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto is echoed in the mystical fervor of Christopher Theofanidis, a dazzling composer who owes so much to his champion Robert Spano. This dynamic conductor is known for amplifying American music that deserves to be heard, like The Glass Bead Game, a multidimensional brain-tickler commissioned by the LO four decades ago.

Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts

On October 4, experience the galloping, “Listen up!” pow of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture and the crystal clear splendor of Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments, then get ready for the dazzling orchestral fireworks and intoxicating melodies of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. This concert’s collection of guilty pleasures, neoclassical innovation and monumental indulgence hits all the right notes for the start of a radiant season.

Bravo 1: Russian Brilliance

Thalia Mara Hall

Short on time, but need a classical music fix? The Oregon Symphony has the perfect answer for the end of your work week: a brand-new musical experience called “Symphony in 60.” The concert is shorter, and there’s no intermission, but there’s no shortage of dazzling music. Our first entry is Rachmaninoff’s ultra-Romantic Symphony No. 2 that enfolds you with sweeping melodies, lush orchestrations, and inspired lyrical passages. The composer himself said: “Music is born only of the heart and it appeals to the heart. It is love.” You’ll need no further proof than this gorgeous work.

Symphony-in-60: Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2

Dani Howard writes "bold, exuberant music that manages to be at once complex and likeable" (Financial Times). The Butterfly Effect explores in music the idea that a small event in one place can have dramatic consequences in another.

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

The Anvil

Our opening concert, “Made in America,” will showcase Grammy Award-winning violinist Anne Akiko Meyers in Barber’s Violin Concerto—one of the great lyrical American classical concertos, complete with technical fireworks. The orchestra will be featured in Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, his final symphonic work written entirely in America and premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra. We open with Dvořák’s Carnival Overture, written just before Dvořák traveled abroad from Prague to live in the US to teach in New York City. This overture was seen as both a farewell to his native country and as a hello to New York.

Made in America

Baylor University

Jaap van Zweden and Bomsori Kim

Seoul Arts Center

A majestic fanfare opens our new season, as the trumpets of Shostakovich’s 1954 Festive Overture herald five-minutes of joyful high spirits.  Its dutiful optimism, composed in just three days in celebration of the 37th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, would no doubt have felt forced to him, having been harried by the Soviet regime for several years. But it’s hard to resist the overture’s blistering momentum and the soaring nobility of its big tune. The mood of Elgar’s Cello Concerto could hardly be more different; his last major work is a poignant farewell to a world blown apart by the Great War. The acclaimed Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk is our soloist in this emotive dialogue between soloist and orchestra.

The Hallé

Royal Concert Hall Nottingham

Sergei Rachmaninov’s career took him from the twilight of Imperial Russia to the cocktails and swimming pools of Beverly Hills. Yet something timeless echoes throughout everything that he composed: a questioning, passionate spirit that encompassed every aspect of his life and times, expressed in melodies that have spoken to millions.

Opening Concert: Schumann's Violin Concerto in Edinburgh

From the tolling of great bells in the Prelude in C sharp minor to the fantastical flights of narrative and image-inspired fantasy in the last set, Op.32, Rachmaninov’s Preludes are undisputed jewels of the piano repertoire.

Boris Giltburg Plays Rachmaninov's Preludes

Sergei Rachmaninov’s career took him from the twilight of Imperial Russia to the cocktails and swimming pools of Beverly Hills. Yet something timeless echoes throughout everything that he composed: a questioning, passionate spirit that encompassed every aspect of his life and times, expressed in melodies that have spoken to millions. Chief Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth begins the BBC SSO’s 90th anniversary season with Rachmaninov’s soaring, jazz-influenced Third Symphony, and pairs it with two very different journeys of the soul—the dark poetry of Schumann’s Violin Concerto, played by the “stunning” (Bachtrack) 24-year-old Daniel Lozakovich, and Wigglesworth’s own tribute to the orchestra’s former Leader Laura Samuel, a much-missed member of the BBC SSO family.

Composer

Sergey Rachmaninoff

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 18, 2024 - Feb 11, 2026

Piano Concerto Finals · The Shepherd School of Music

Sep 19 - Dec 7, 2025

Subscription concert · Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie

Dec 7, 2025

Coming to America · Delaware County Symphony

Dec 7, 2025

Royal Orchestral Society · Royal Academy of Music

Dec 11, 2025

Chopin, Concerto No. 1 - Bruce Liu / Joana Mallwitz · Orchestre National de France

Past events

Dec 2, 2025

Carnegie Hall Preview · Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Nov 30, 2025

Discover Talent: Jaeden Izik-Dzurko / Piano Recital · Elbphilharmonie

About

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