Composer

Where John Zorn draws on a prayer, Ludwig van Beethoven composes one of the most intimate movements in chamber music, and Dmitri Shostakovich presents his final work of this genre with his 15th String Quartet, no words are needed. Intensely melancholic, imbued with profound emotion, and reminiscent of silent farewell prayers, the three works in this program resonate. Between prayer, memory, and farewell, a soundscape of silence unfolds—tentatively exploring between solace and emptiness, between speechlessness and expression. Where words fall silent, another language begins: fragile, intimate, and imbued with that profound humanity which gives voice to the unspeakable, in a way that ultimately only music can.

Kammermusik@ZKO — Elegien der Stille

ZKO House

Witches, ghosts, and fantastical creatures are coming to the Opéra Comédie for a grand family event filled with thrills and festivities. From the incandescent passion of Khachaturian's Sabre Dance to the mysteries of Revueltas's Sensemayá , from the spirits of earth and fire invoked by Holst to the breathless chase in Bartók's The Miraculous Mandarin , each piece in this program opens a new door to the strange and the wondrous. Between frenetic dances, triumphant marches, and ghostly waltzes, the Orchestra summons the dark forces of the great repertoire… Come in costume!

Halloween Concert

Opéra Comédie

As Hitler’s armies surrounded the city of Leningrad, Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Seventh Symphony – a shout of courage, defiance and victory, written for massed battalions of musicians. Brace yourself for wartime drama on a heroic scale as Bassem Akiki conducts the mighty RSNO in this sonic blockbuster: the climax of a concert that begins with Copland’s showstopping fanfare and stars a real RSNO favourite, violinist Philippe Quint, in a violin concerto with a dazzling difference.

RSNO Season 26-27: Shostakovich Seven

Usher Hall

Five musicians from the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra perform Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony alongside works by Prokofiev and Fauré in dialogue with sculptor Ossip Zadkine's visual works at the KMSKA museum.

Antwerp Symphony Orchestra X KMSKA LAAT

Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (KMSKA)

Nobuyuki Tsujii returns with Shostakovich’s jocular and fun-loving Second Piano Concerto, and a similar playfulness runs through a brand-new piece by the sensational young composer Carmel Smickersgill. Her work blends pop and classical influences to explore themes of love, heartbreak and death – she describes it as ‘silly music that comes from a serious place’. Much darker forces emerge in Mussorgsky’s Night on the Bare Mountain and dawn breaks to the sound of one of the Orchestra's mighty Forever Bells. Peace is finally restored thanks to Sibelius’ Sixth Symphony, a luminous, restrained work inspired by early English music.

Nobu Returns

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and its brilliant music director Rafael Payare step onto the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage with Shostakovich’s powerful, energetic, and darkly intense Tenth Symphony.

EPSG:4326

Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Rafael Payare

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Roberto Abbado

Teatro Auditorium Manzoni

Rafael Payare and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal return to Davies Symphony Hall for a program featuring Shostakovich’s intensely passionate Tenth Symphony. Played here by Leonidas Kavakos, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto sells itself: a showpiece with a heart.

Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal

Davies Symphony Hall

Experience a program that explores the grit and bravery of the creative spirit, beginning with the vibrant, rhythmic pulse of Jessie Montgomery’s Overture. You’ll witness the “extraordinary narrative and poetic gifts” of pianist Clayton Stephenson as he tackles the towering virtuosity of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1—a masterpiece that famously conquered its critics to become an icon of the stage.

Defiance

Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center

Debussy’s La mer crowns a concert that surges with elemental power; whether Britten’s East Anglian seascapes or Shostakovich at his punchiest.

Sakari Oramo conducts Debussy and Shostakovich

Barbican Centre

Grief plays a central role in this special concert, which opens with American composer Samuel Barber's  Adagio for strings – a work whose painful longing but also defiant spirit America has sought in its darkest moments, including after 9/11.

Kochanovsky & Shostakovich

DR Koncerthuset

First comes Borodin’s atmospheric musical picture of a caravan of merchants and their camels crossing the steppe, with gorgeous moments in the spotlight for some of the Philharmonia’s woodwind principals.

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto with Seong-Jin Cho

Southbank Centre

Carlos Miguel Prieto returns to the podium for a compelling program of 20th-century orchestral works. The evening opens with Revueltas’s Suite from Redes, rich in rhythmic vitality and cinematic color, followed by Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2, a work of lyricism and sharp-edged brilliance featuring violin soloist Aubree Oliverson. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 brings the program to a powerful close, its sweeping drama and emotional intensity offering a monumental conclusion under Prieto’s leadership.

Prieto Returns: Shostakovich No. 5

Orpheum Theater

Alexandra Dovgan & Beethoven

Municipal House

Star pianist Seong-Jin Cho joins forces with his regular collaborator and 'musical soulmate' Santtu, and the outstanding musicians of the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Philharmonia: Seong-jin Cho Plays Tchaikovsky

De Montfort Hall

Violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason is joined by pianist Sophia Rahman for this Canterbury Festival performance, presenting together a varied programme of works including pieces by Pärt, Shostakovich, Mozart and more.

Braimah Kanneh-Mason and Sophia Rahman

Kent College

Thessaloniki, Greece

Thessaloniki Concert Hall

Batiashvili, Capuçon & Thibaudet in Recital

Severance Music Center

Celebrate the 60th anniversary of the prestigious Concertino Praga competition with an evening of virtuosity and distinguished musical figures. Under the baton of Robert Kružík, Bach’s Double Concerto in D minor will be performed by Dmitry Sitkovetsky and Václav Hudeček; Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 by Jan Čmejla together with Filippo Lombardi; Glière’s Horn Concerto by Radek Baborák; and Saint-Saëns’s Étude in the Form of a Waltz, performed by the violinist Daniel Matejča.

Concertino Praga 60 Year

Rudolfinum

Inbal Segev is “a cellist with something to say” (Gramophone). Combining rich tone and technical mastery with rare dedication and intelligence, she has appeared with orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony, Bamberg Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Dortmund Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Pittsburgh Symphony, Polish National Radio Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony, collaborating with such prominent conductors as Marin Alsop, Stéphane Denève, Edward Gardner, Kirill Karabits, Lorin Maazel, Cristian Măcelaru, and Zubin Mehta. Committed to reinvigorating the cello repertoire, she has commissioned and premiered new cello concertos from Timo Andres, Anna Clyne, Avner Dorman, Fernando Otero, Victoria Poleva, and Dan Visconti. Recorded with Alsop and the London Philharmonic for Avie Records, Segev’s premiere recording of Clyne’s new cello concerto, DANCE, was an instant success, topping the Amazon Classical Concertos chart. Its opening movement was chosen as one of NPR Music’s “Favorite Songs of 2020,” receiving more than twelve million listens on Spotify. To encourage creative recovery during the early pandemic lockdowns, Segev launched 20 for 2020, a commissioning, recording, and video project for 20 cutting-edge composers, including John Luther Adams, Viet Cuong, and Angélica Negrón, all of whom wrote new works in response to the worldwide crisis. Segev’s previous discography includes acclaimed recordings of the Elgar Cello Concerto, Romantic cello works, and Bach’s Cello Suites, while her popular YouTube masterclass series, Musings with Inbal Segev, has inspired a generation of cellists.

Inbal Segev, cello; Yalin Chi, piano

The Chapel Restoration

The evening opens with music from John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret, bringing the sound of the theatre straight into the hall, lively, a little cheeky, and sometimes quietly reflective. Songs by William Bolcom follow, continuing that cabaret tradition with music that feels close,personal, and directly connected to the words.

A Night at the Cabaret

Memorial University School of Music

Vienna, Austria

Musikverein

Konzerthaus Wien

Eben Trio

National Gallery Prague

What’s better than one magnificently talented artist? How about three. Experience the thrilling trifecta of violinist Lisa Batiashvili, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet as they join forces in piano trios by Shostakovich, Debussy, and Dvořák.

Batiashvili/Capuçon/Thibaudet Trio

“Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s piano, Lisa Batiashvili’s violin and Gautier Capuçon’s cello [stitch] their individual strands of sound into a sumptuous fabric” (The Arts Desk) during a night of Russian, French, and Czech music.

Lisa Batiashvili Gautier Capuçon Jean-Yves Thibaudet

Chamber Concert 1

WDR Funkhaus

Sunday Chamber Music – 2

BFO Rehearsal Hall

Paris, France

Philharmonie de Paris

The Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich set Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk to a libretto he wrote together with Alexander Preis after the eponymous novella by Nikolai Leskov. He himself referred to the opera as a satirical tragedy. The main character, Katerina, is a murderess haunted by qualms of conscience. Yet, with a touch of bitter humour, Shostakovich also focuses on the moral decay of the inhabitants of a Russian village, revealing the omnipresent torpidity and recklessness. Life without hope and love is the very reason for the heroine’s downfall.

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

State Opera

Triumph, romance, courage, and the unmistakable power of a full symphony orchestra launch Symphonicity’s season-long journey, The Long Road: Music in Search of Peace. Shostakovich’s dazzling Festive Overture bursts onto the stage with exhilarating orchestral brilliance before Chaerin Kim takes center stage on two instruments: first bringing elegance and virtuosity to Glière’s lush Harp Concerto, then moving to the piano for Addinsell’s sweeping and cinematic Warsaw Concerto, music forever associated with resilience in a world at war. Tchaikovsky’s stirring Marche slave brings the afternoon to a climax in a dramatic work born from conflict that starts as a funeral dirge and ends with hopeful splendor. The harp and piano soloist then steps onto the podium as composer and conductor in a finale of peace and love within her own work, Rendezvous.

Ceremony & Conviction

Sandler Center for the Performing Arts

Hamburg, Germany

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

In Stalin’s Russia, music really was a matter of life and death. Written under political oppression, Shostakovich gambled everything on his Fifth Symphony, and when it was first played, the audience wept – and then cheered. Make no mistake, this is a musical thriller with a devastating emotional punch, and tonight Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Hahn sets the scene with another Cold War classic, Schnittke’s haunting Viola Concerto, with the brilliant Lawrence Power as soloist. Expect shadows, secrets and some powerful surprises.

RSNO Season 26-27: Shostakovich Five

Beginning with the clean tranquillity of Morning, Grieg’s first suite from his music to the play Peer Gynt ends in its hero’s escape from the terrifying Mountain King.

Haydn & Shostakovich

Auckland Town Hall

Under the baton of Polish conductor Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, three composers from a time of upheaval are brought together in a program where music becomes a spark of freedom. Composed at the pivotal moment of his return to the Soviet Union, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet emerged from the tension between personal artistic ambition and political constraint, carried by expressive melodies and a strikingly modern tone.

Romeo, Juliet and the Struggles of an Era

Église Sainte Suzanne

Maison de la culture Ahuntsic

Place des Arts

Two exceptional performers from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland take on Shostakovich’s emotive 1934 masterpiece for cello and piano as well as a varied trio of 20th century works by Benjamin Britten, Nadia Boulanger and the greatest cellist of his age, Mstislav Rostropovich.

Lunchtime Concert: Shostakovich's Cello Sonata

Perth Concert Hall

The extensive concert program presents itself with dazzling diversity and a variety of formats. The Zurich Opera Orchestra, in full force, will perform in seven Philharmonic Concerts, alternating between the Opera House and the Tonhalle. Internationally renowned soloists and guest conductors will dedicate themselves to major works from Beethoven to Strauss, as well as fascinating discoveries from the concert repertoire. A special highlight is the Prokofiev Cycle, created in collaboration with the Tonhalle Orchestra. Three concerts by the Orchestra La Scintilla on period instruments, as well as a series of gala and special concerts – including one with the Children's Opera Orchestra – further enrich the diverse offerings. The musicians of the Zurich Opera Orchestra can be heard in smaller, more intimate ensembles in the popular Chamber Concerts, held every Sunday morning and Monday evening. The Ensemble Opera Nova brings works from the late 20th and 21st centuries to the Studio Stage. The concert program is rounded off by the song recitals, in which some of the most beautiful and characteristic voices of our time can be heard.

1. Chamber Concert

Opernhaus Zürich

Shostakovich’s enigmatic musical reply to ‘just criticism’ sits alongside the fluid, lyrical melodies of Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto.

On Tour in Tokyo

NHK Broadcasting Center

Frizza/Kavakos

San Carlo Theatre

On Tour in Kyoto

Kyoto Concert Hall

First, taking you on a journey with Bridge’s award-winning Phantasie filled with flowing and melodic declarations and playful interjections, all in a single movement. This is juxtaposed by Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No.2, which was finished in 1944, during the devastation of war and the loss of his beloved friend Ivan Sollertinsky. It begins by setting a desolate and eerie atmosphere with a fugue, where one instrument enters and is joined by another like echoes. This first movement soon turns more anxious and desperate as the pace quickens but unravels as it closes. The momentum is carried forth and accelerated by an electrifying and scherzo-like second movement charged with discordance and frenzy. The third movement takes after the passacaglia as the piano loops a sombre series of six chords beneath aching and agonising outcries in the violin and cello. The movement dissipates straight into the final movement known as the “Dance of Death”. It ties the themes of previous movements with a Jewish folk-like melody. Draws a finish by reminiscing the first movement perhaps to incite the foreseen destitute of hope.

Azuri Trio

Smith Square Hall

Liadov conjures magical landscapes while Shostakovich navigates political turmoil translated into music, plus Bruce Liu performs Prokofiev’s dazzling Piano Concerto No 3.

On Tour in Shanghai

Shanghai Oriental Art Center

Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5 was begun in 1937, a year after Stalin condemned the composer’s opera Lady Macbeth as ‘muddle instead of music’. On the surface, the Fifth falls back into Soviet line with its clear sense of structure and abundance of tunes. But there’s an underlying menace to the opening movement, a brooding darkness to the Largo, while the surging finale is surely nothing short of Shostakovich at his most bitingly ironic.

On Tour in Jiangsu

Jiangsu Grand Theatre

Franz Welser-Möst opens his 25th and final season as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra with two 20th-century masterpieces. South African soprano Golda Schultz lends her radiant voice to Richard Strauss’s staggeringly beautiful Four Last Songs, written in the sunset of the composer’s life. Complementing this, Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony moves from despair to resilience with the composer’s characteristic mix of biting wit and veiled criticism. 

Strauss & Shostakovich

The season starts with a mysterious masterpiece full of ‘dark sayings’. The theme, Elgar insisted, must be left unguessed and still baffles sleuths today, yet lies at the heart of one of the greatest works in British orchestral music. Our Principal Guest Conductor Andrew Manze explores the uncracked code in his introduction to, and performance of, Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Elegance, flair and passion follow with cellist Guy Johnston as soloist in Benjamin Britten’s only truly symphonic work. And Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, written in a flash of white-hot inspiration, kicks things off in celebratory style.

Season Opening Concert: Unveiling the Enigma

Shostakovich’s Fifth unleashes big tunes and white-hot intensity, plus Beethoven’s majestic Third Piano Concerto.

On Tour in Beijing

National Centre for the Performing Arts

From Stravinsky’s esoteric neo-Classicism to Strauss’ Romantic lyricism, Shostakovich’s profound grief and Silvestrov’s luminous reflections, this programme explores the 20th century through dialogue.

Fractured Light: Joel Munday and Julian Trevelyan

LSO St Luke's

Curious about instrumental music? Looking to make lunchtime musical? Try this bite-size, informal concert, performed by musicians from the LSO String Experience scheme.

Free Friday Lunchtime Concert

Time stands still, and the whole world holds its breath as the great moments of sport unfold – both in reality, on the big screen and on the TV screen.

Sports in Symphony

Shostakovich’s compositions faced pressure from the totalitarian Stalin regime, but he remained defiant and courageous. His piece Festive Overture, driven by thrilling brass fanfare, was written in three days to celebrate the anniversary of the October 1917 Russian Revolution. It is speculated that the work was influenced by the composer’s sense of relief and celebration after Stalin’s death. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, written for the same anniversary years prior, focuses on the transformation from emotional darkness to light, reflecting his struggles with the regime’s critics. The piece won massive praise, with a standing ovation for over thirty minutes after its premiere.

Prokofiev & Shostakovich

Buddy Holly Hall

Everyone wants to book him right now: Alexandre Kantorow, the pianist born in 1997 who, seven years ago, became the first French winner of the Gold Medal at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition and received the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award in 2023. He has already performed with such world-class orchestras as the Berlin and New York Philharmonics and played Ravel’s Jeux d’eau in pouring rain at the opening of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games — an artist who captivates audiences with the poetry of his interpretations. For his Lucerne Festival debut, Kantorow turns to one of his favorite composers: Johannes Brahms, whose First Piano Concerto seems almost written for eleven or twelve fingers, so formidable are its challenges. But Kantorow fears neither the massive chords nor the filigree passagework. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck then present a milestone of the Russian repertoire: Dmitri Shostakovich’s multilayered Fifth Symphony. With this work, written after being publicly denounced by Stalin’s “cultural guardians,” Shostakovich attempted to step out of the line of fire and wrote a bombastic, triumphal finale. But the real message can be heard between the lines.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra | Manfred Honeck | Alexandre Kantorow

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

You can simply go to a concert at the Philharmonie, spontaneously, during your lunch break – and with free admission: every Wednesday at 13:00 between September and June. The programme lasts 40 to 50 minutes: chamber music, piano works or a percussion duo – everything from Tchaikovsky to tango. Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Karajan-Akademie regularly perform, as well as guests from the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Berlin music conservatories. As can be expected at a lunch concert, catering is available from 12 noon until shortly before the concert begins.

Lunch concert

Berliner Philharmoniker

Brass instruments have been around for thousands of years, featuring in military, religious and courtly ceremonies, marching bands, orchestra, chamber music and so much more.

Cocktail Hour with Brent Grapes

Sydney Opera House

With a thunderous entrance from the orchestra and piano chords that crash like waves, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto announces itself with total confidence.

Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto

Oslo Kammermusikkfestival closing gala concert featuring a virtuoso programme performed by festival musicians in Marmorsalen.

Closing Gala

Sentralen

For 25 years I’ve wanted to perform the Mendelssohn Octet in Newburyport. Finally, I’m getting the chance. One of the most adored works in all the repertoire, which is affectionately referred to by my colleagues as the “Mocktet” - not to be confused with Shostakovich’s own version known as the “Shocktet” - which opens the final concert. The two octets are a natural pairing and fitting conclusion to a celebration of all that chamber music can be. The Mendelssohn is one great movement after another and an astonishing mature piece of music from a composer who was, annoyingly, only 16 when he wrote it. The festival artists are joined by the Miró String Quartet, one of the world’s great ensembles with multiple Grammys and first prizes from international competitions under their belt.

Twenty-Five Years of NCMF

Immaculate Conception Church, Newburyport

It is always a good day when Jon Deak shows up on your doorstep. This concert marks his triumphant return (indeed, his third visit!) to Newburyport and the first appearance at NCMF of his friend and collaborator, legendary Metropolitan opera soprano Lucy Shelton. The concert begins with Lucy performing Cathy Berberian’s tour-de-force for solo soprano with a score written not in musical notation but as a cartoon (the score will be projected so the audience can follow along). Also featured on the program is Haydn’s B Minor quartet. Papa Haydn was famous for his sunny disposition but this is an unusually dark and enigmatic work. As long as we are flipping traditional roles, Shostakovich, known a bit as the king of despair, has, with his first quartet in C Major, a work that is warm and even sunny at times.

Return of Jon Deak

Keen-eyed observers will notice a common thread running through this summer’s program. Four composers feature throughout: Haydn, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, and Jon Deak. Together, they paint a broad, if not comprehensive, history of classical music. Josef Haydn (1732 – 1809), widely acknowledged as the inventor of both the symphony and the string quartet, codified much of the classical era. Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847) was a true romantic and wore his heart on his sleeve. Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975) typified the complexities and contradictions of the 20th Century, his music touching upon emotions like irony or despair. Finally, Jon Deak (b. 1943), our Composer-in-Residence, has, in his unique and very 21st Century manner, blurred the line between music and theater.

Piano Recital

St. Paul’s Church

The Music Academy’s teaching artist roster is unmatched—artists who mentor at the highest level and shine in performance throughout the summer. Teaching Artist Showcases spotlight this extraordinary talent in concert, bringing our influential teaching artists to the stage in chamber music collaborations.

Teaching Artist Showcase: Shostakovich & Hahn

Lobero Theatre

Playful Poulenc with Lambert Wilson, incisive brass, Martinů, Blacher and Busoni in motion, Shostakovich ablaze, then Schubert lights up the night with Death and the Maiden.

The Great Evening

Festival Salon

The Fortuny Trio makes its debut at the Perelada Festival coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the formation, consolidated as one of the most solid and personal proposals of its generation. Formed by Joel Bardolet, Pau Codina and Marc Heredia, the trio has built its own language that combines rigor, complicity and a lively look at the repertoire.

Trio Fortuny

Església del Carme

At the Château de l'Empéri, the evening glides from Bolling and his hushed jazz to Golijov, Shostakovich and Bartók, and then culminates in Chausson's Concert, a melancholy gem.

7. Full Sentimental

Château de l'Empéri

Two charming works open this program, which is then brought to a fiery conclusion with one of the most powerful works in the chamber music repertoire. Getting things started is the lyrical late-18th-century Flute Trio, Op. 61, No. 5, by French Classical composer and flute virtuoso François Devienne, who was known in his day as “The Mozart of the Flute.” Next, violist Paul Neubauer and pianist Nicolas Namoradze play Schubert’s much-loved Arpeggione Sonata, whose nickname is a nod to the six-stringed, bowed guitar that was (briefly) popular in the early 19th century and that Schubert originally wrote the work for. To close out the evening, Alan Gilbert, on violin, leads Festival musicians in Shostakovich’s stunning Piano Quintet, which, being very much a product of its time, takes listeners on a wild emotional journey.

Schubert & Shostakovich

New Mexico Museum of Art

Dubbed a musician of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by The New York Times, Conrad Tao has been playing Gershwin’s 1924 rhapsody with orchestras across the country for nearly two decades. “It’s emblematic of the time and place, but it’s also timeless,” says Tao. “Improvisation is baked into Rhapsody in Blue. There are places in the score where the orchestra rests, and the pianist just takes off. That’s one of the reasons it continues to resonate with audiences today.”

Rhapsody in Blue & Shostakovich

Hollywood Bowl

Formed by alumni of the National Repertory Orchestra, this quartet brings together musicians whose shared roots at the NRO have evolved into dynamic professional careers. In this program, they draw from American narratives that play a critical role in the ongoing evolution of our nation’s history and musical character. Through works that reflect migration, identity, tradition, and transformation, the ensemble creates a throughline between past and present.

Chamber Concert

Riverwalk Center

Semyon Bychkov's performance is generously sponsored by James and Marguerite Rigby.



Brahms’s Fourth Symphony is a work of contrasts, veering from bold orchestral statements to exuberant dances and concluding with an homage to Baroque master J.S. Bach. Semyon Bychkov conducts this symphonic classic alongside Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto. Composed under the watchful eye of the Soviet Union, this virtuosic showpiece requires a violinist of Karen Gomyo’s caliber to probe its mysterious and emotional depths.

Brahms & Shostakovich

Blossom Music Center

Beloved Festival Orchestra member José González Granero moves from the woodwind section to the front of the stage to perform Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, one of the great composer’s last masterpieces.

Festival Orchestra: Shostakovich & Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto

Jackson Hole High School

Violin, cello and accordion: the trio that makes anything possible, from Vivaldi to Piazzolla. This concert is canceled due to fire risk.

Philia Trio

Théâtre de Verdure

Enjoy a behind-the-scenes look as Sir Donald Runnicles and the orchestra rehearse for the weekend Festival Orchestra concerts. This week, beloved Festival Orchestra member José González Granero moves from the woodwind section to the front of the stage to perform Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, one of the great composer’s last masterpieces. In contrast to Mozart’s meaningful late utterance are two more youthful works by important 20th century icons – a playful literary overture by American Samuel Barber, The School for Scandal Overture, and an incredibly precocious college graduation project by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Symphony No. 1.

Open Rehearsal: Shostakovich & Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto

An evening at the heart of the Russian steppe, in all its harshness and infinite beauty. Alexandre Kantorow, piano, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Jakub Hrůša. Program: Tchaikovsky, Romeo and Juliet, fantasy-overture; Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26; Shostakovich, Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10.

Romeo and Juliet

Le Corum

Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson makes her Festival debut with William Grant Still’s celebratory Festive Overture, followed by Ravel’s jazz-inflected Piano Concerto featuring star pianist Michelle Cann. Florence Price’s sweeping Symphony No. 3 concludes the program in its first Festival outing.

Ravel Piano Concerto

Millennium Park

Chorin Music Summer 2026

Chorin Abbey

9.  Chamber Concert

Hoghehus Lübeck

We begin with Brahms’ ‘Tragic Overture’, which confronts darkness head-on. Composed in 1880 as the sombre counterpart to his ‘Academic Festival Overture’, it whips up a storm of emotional energy, embodying what Brahms called “the serious side of life”. 

Next is Sibelius’ haunting ‘Valse Triste’. Originally composed for a 1903 play, this melancholic waltz depicts a dying woman’s fevered dream, where she dances with memories and ghosts. At the end, four solo violins add a fragile, otherworldly coda. 

Shostakovich’s monumental Seventh Symphony completes the arc from despair to defiance. It was composed during the 1941 siege of Leningrad, a time of unimaginable suffering for citizens. This epic work transforms the nightmare of war – represented by the famous ‘invasion theme’ in the first movement – into ultimate victory. 

Composer

Dmitri Shostakovich

Events

Upcoming events

Nov 3, 2026

Lunchtime Concert: Carducci String Quartet · Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

Nov 3, 2026

Hannes Minnaar piano · Wigmore Hall

Nov 4, 2026

Dvořák. Shostakovich · Prague Philharmonia

Nov 4, 2026

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra: Hannah Kendall, Shostakovich & Sibelius · Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Nov 5, 2026

Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.2 with Nobuyuki Tsujii · Southbank Centre

Past events

Nov 1, 2026

Kammermusik@ZKO — Elegien der Stille · Zürcher Kammerorchester

Oct 31, 2026

Halloween Concert · Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

About

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