Composer

Director Barrie Kosky plunges us into a nightmarish, wildly exaggerated satire, with marching noses, rolling rickshaw tables, and caricatured protagonists in garish costumes that straddle folklore and historicism, all unfolding within a cold, bleak setting that feels claustrophobic despite its size. This surrealist story of the insecure and paranoid upstart Platon Kuzmich Kovalyov is transformed into a absurd, kaleidoscopic revue of the vanities, an unsettling collision of Wozzeck and Alice in Wonderland with its own ‘irrational’ logic.

The Nose

Schiller Theater

The vast majority of people listen to music - this also applies to the great political figures of the last 100 years. But what do they listen to - and why? Does the music say something about their political stance, and do they perhaps even instrumentalize it in their political struggle? Or is it just for their own pleasure? Does certain music stimulate certain political beliefs - and vice versa?

EPSG:4326

Music of world leaders

Lille Sal Musikhuset

Guest conductor Paolo Bortolameolli leads the Omaha Symphony through a powerful program of Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Schoenberg. From the intensity of Egmont Overture to the fiery virtuosity of Cello Concerto No. 1 and the haunting beauty of Verklärte Nacht, this concert is a journey through passion and depth.

Ledwon Plays Shostakovich

Joslyn Art Museum

District Concert Lobeda No. 2

Stadtteilzentrum LISA

He ultimately became the greatest symphonic voice of the 20th century, but 19-year-old Shostakovich was a “precocious” composer, with his First Symphony causing a sensation. People fought to hear its premiere. It anticipates the characteristics that mark his later creations, too -- it’s cheeky, brash, vigorous, full of rhythmic drive. A wonderfully contrasting voice is Ibert’s charming Concerto, masterfully performed by our renowned flute soloist.

Stravinsky & Shostakovich

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Music history is filled with moments that leave an indelible impression. Elgar’s Cello Concerto opens with the melancholic embrace of the cello, followed by the orchestra’s emotional response, conveying beauty, simplicity, and deep sadness. Written after World War I, it reflects Elgar’s disbelief in humanity and the sorrow following immense suffering. Similarly, Shostakovich, under the heavy hand of Stalin’s regime, spent years balancing his personal expression with political restrictions. Yet, this programme is not all sorrow. Shostakovich’s playful finale and Elgar’s glimmers of hope are complemented by Rimsky- Korsakov’s vibrant Capriccio espagnol. After the storm, the sun shines again. The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Finnish maestro Santtu-Matias Rouvali, with Senja Rummukainen, a gifted cellist from Finland, performing Elgar’s masterpiece.

Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts the Rotterdam Philharmonic

Queen Elisabeth Hall

Violinist Maxim Vengerov is one of the truly great classical stars of our time. In addition to performing on the world’s leading stages, he is also a guest professor at both the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland and the Royal College of Music in London. He made his debut at Konserthuset Stockholm over 30 years ago. In spring 2025, he performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

Shostakovich and Brahms

Konserthuset Stockholm

What moved Dmitri Shostakovich deeply at the end of his life was expressed musically in his last work. Although he found it more than difficult to write, he put his Viola Sonata op. 147 down on paper - a work in which he looks back on his often painful life full of melancholy. Our Composer in Focus this season is Ivan Danko. His composition Frustration of the Tolerance is inspired by the painting of the same name by Slovakian artist Albin Brunovský and moves between expressive drama, quiet fragility and a hint of folkloristic motifs – an exploration of inner turmoil and the attempt at balance. In his Piano quintet No. 1, Antonín Dvořák does not yet appear as the Czech national composer he has become known as. This music is highly romantic, full of opulent harmonies and rapturous gestures.

5. Chamber Music Concert

Liederhalle Cultural and Congress Center

Chamber Concert No. 5

Town Hall Hall

Joseph Horowitz, who expertly set the stage for the SDSO's triumphant performance of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony in February of 2023, returns to Sioux Falls to guide you through another of Shostakovich's epic war symphonies.

Shostakovich Symphony No. 8

Washington Pavilion

Euan Shields takes to the podium to lead the Hallé orchestra through this dark and supernatural programme. Taras Bulba, based on the Nikolai Gogol novel of the same name, was written in the midst of World War One. It leads the listener through three key moments in the life of the Russian Cossack, including the death of each of his two sons (one at his own hand), and finally, his own capture and demise. Shostakovich’s First Symphony was a huge success right from its premiere, launching him into instant international stardom at the age of just 19. Written as a graduation exercise from Maximilian Steinberg’s composition class, the symphony possesses a profound maturity, as well as the simultaneous sense of wit and tragedy that would go on to become characteristic of Shostakovich’s later works.

The Hallé – Rush Hour: Shostakovich’s Symphony No.1

The Bridgewater Hall

Taras Bulba, based on the Nikolai Gogol novel of the same name, was written in the midst of World War One. It leads the listener through three key moments in the life of the Russian Cossack, including the death of each of his two sons (one at his own hand), and finally, his own capture and demise.

Rush Hour: Shostakovich’s Symphony No.1

Music is a strange thing. It exists only in the moment, and yet it endures. It passes, and yet it leaves its mark. An evening about time, about farewells—and about what resonates in memory.

Eternity And Transience

Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz

KLUB reader concert of the Funke Media Group

Volkshaus Jena

Aris Quartet is an internationally recognized string quartet ensemble that has distinguished itself as one of the leading chamber music ensembles of its generation since its founding in 2009. The four musicians have won numerous awards in international competitions and regularly perform in the world's most prestigious concert halls.

Aris Quartet

Class Classics begins with the musical enthusiasm of young people who qualify with their school orchestras and learn from the professionals of the Munich Radio Orchestra during rehearsals what matters for a big performance. The goal is a joint concert with the Munich Radio Orchestra at the Isar Philharmonic Hall in the Gasteig HP8.

Classical class – Dance Around the World

Gasteig HP8

Proclaimed as “one of the finest conductors of her generation,” by The New York Times, renowned JoAnn Falletta takes the podium to lead a powerful program featuring Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1. Copland’s influence shines through in Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, a bold and exhilarating tribute to trailblazing women. Concertmaster Rimma Bergeron-Langlois performs Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto, a true showcase of virtuosity and emotional depth. After intermission, Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 brings the night to a triumphant close, its grandeur and sweeping melodies cementing its place as one of the greatest symphonic achievements. Join us for an extraordinary evening with JoAnn Falletta at the helm with your Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra!

Brahms Symphony No. 1

Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

In the most dramatic times of the 20th century, Shostakovich's Cello Sonata (1934) and Prokofiev's Second Violin Sonata (1943) were two profound works created that combine virtuosity and expressiveness in the intimate form of the sonata. The second part of this extraordinary chamber concert features Dvořák's Second Piano Quintet, which embodies everything his name is associated with: rich melodic invention, Czech folk influences, and late-Romantic sonority.

Slavic soul

Theater Lübeck

. He is an internationally celebrated grand seigneur of the conductor's baton, a universally respected veteran conductor: Thomas Sanderling, born in 1942 in Novosibirsk. In 2017, he became head of the city's symphony orchestra, but resigned in 2022 in protest against Putin's invasion of Ukraine. In our Russian program, he conducts the overture to Borodin's national opera Prince Igor , the rarely heard Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 – with the Chinese-Canadian star pianist Sheng Cai as soloist – and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9, with whom Sanderling was friends. The work is a bold, even cheeky surprise package. After the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War in 1945, the officials in the USSR, especially Stalin, were expecting a monumental socialist "Super-Ninth"—with soloists, choir, and large orchestra modeled on Beethoven's "Ninth." But instead, Shostakovich composed a witty, sparkling neoclassical symphony, imbued with the spirit of Haydn and simply declaring: "Hurrah, the war is over!"

Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich

Meistersinger Hall

Saturday Concert No. 3 (2026)

Featuring the performance of the Young Artist Competition Winner and the Brahms Symphony #2. Program also includes Shostakovich Festival Overture and the Concertstuck for 4 Horns, Op 86 by Schumann.

Bright Horizons

Performing Arts Center of Rapid City

Catch the brilliance of Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony as conductor Jessica Cottis leads the Orchestra in revealing the complexities behind the work's seemingly lighthearted façade. The Orchestra's own concertmaster Diana Cohen takes the spotlight in Max Bruch's riveting and romantic First Violin Concerto — voted the #1 violin concerto of all time by Classic FM.

IX: Shostakovich

Arts Commons

Join the RPO for a night of intensity! Marcelo Lehninger leads a provocative program, opening with Carlos Simon’s vibrant Festive Fanfare and Overture. The Chicago Tribune hails Lehninger for keeping “sophistication to the fore”! Acclaimed violinist Paul Huang brings his signature passion to Dvořák’s enchanting Violin Concerto, brimming with Bohemian spirit. The evening culminates with Shostakovich’s striking Symphony No. 1, a work that crackles with wit, drama, and youthful genius. Don’t miss these dynamic soundscapes and powerful artistry!

Dazzling Dvořák

Eastman Theatre

Join distinguished composer and public radio personality Bruce Adolphe for investigations and insights into masterworks performed during the Alice Tully Hall season. Inside Chamber Music lectures are beloved by regulars and a revelation to first timers for their depth, accessibility and brilliance.

Each lecture is supported by live performance excerpts from the featured work.

Shostakovich's Quartet No. 9 in E-flat major for Strings, Op. 117

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

"Katja and Ivan" – that's Ivan Repušić, Chief Conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra, and his wife Katja, a pianist and professor in Split. Together with string players from the radio orchestra, they open the doors of their very own salon. Brahms' almost symphonic piano quintet will be accompanied by, among other things, five cheerful and charming miniatures by Shostakovich, based on film and stage music. Katja and Ivan's compatriot Boris Papandopulo sends greetings from their shared homeland of Croatia in the form of his "Papandopulijada."

Salon Katja and Ivan

Künstlerhaus am Lenbachplatz

The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra that performs over 50 concerts annually around the state of West Virginia, and has a nationally award-winning education program. This concert features onstage actors from the WVU School of Theatre and Dance performing selected scenes.

WV Symphony Orchestra: Shakespeare on Stage

Canady Creative Arts Center

The Apollo Orchestra with principal Conductor David Chan welcomes Romain-Olivier Gray, cello, as our featured soloist in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major.

London Symphony

The Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church

Shakespeare on Stage

Clay Center

UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra 2026

UC Berkeley Department of Music

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

Composer Sam Kane takes inspiration from Irish mythology in Danu’s Rhapsody, an Irish Trad-inflected telling of the story of the transformation of Danu into the Celtic goddess of nature. Sibelius, often inspired by the mythology of his own homeland, set the Finnish Kalevala to one side to create his lushly romantic First Symphony, where beautiful melodies appear out of musical storm and tempest. Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto sees him finally leave the pain of Stalinist Russia behind after the dictator’s death, to write a work for his son that is full of joy, lightness and wit, with a slow movement to swoon over.

Rhapsody & Romance

Belfast

Guest performance in Mülheim an der Ruhr

Stadthalle

Ulster Orchestra: Rhapsody & Romance

Ulster Hall

In February, under the baton of Olari Elts, ERSO celebrates the 120th anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich’s birth. For the first time, the orchestra will perform the composer’s Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1. The concert also features pianist Marie-Ange Nguci as the soloist in Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1. A virtuoso with a distinctive musical voice, Nguci has already graced some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls despite her young age. The second half of the evening presents Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6, a striking emotional departure from the dramatic intensity of his Fifth Symphony. This work offers a more introspective and lyrical experience, revealing a different side of the composer’s genius.

Dmitri Shostakovich 120

Estonia Concert Hall

Classical Favorites

College of Southern Idaho Fine Arts Building

Guest performance in Bietigheim-Bissingen

Crown Center

The Soviet authorities called it an “optimistic tragedy”. Shostakovich simply called it his Tenth Symphony. Dark, tense, packed with secret messages and featuring a hair-raising musical portrait of Stalin himself; what’s certain is that Shostakovich’s Tenth is one of the mightiest of 20th-century symphonies – one of those pieces that you simply have to hear live.

Critics have described the conductor Daniel Raiskin as “stunningly good”, so who better to probe Shostakovich’s secrets – and to partner the distinguished British violinist Jennifer Pike in Britain’s favourite romantic violin concerto?

Czech Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra

Cadogan Hall 

Music Director Guillermo Figueroa conducts Romance & Rhapsody, featuring GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Olga Kern performing not only Rachmaninov’s beloved Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, but Haydn’s Harpsichord Concerto in D Major as well. With a vivid onstage presence, dazzling technique, and keen musicianship, Kern is widely recognized as one of the great artists of her generation, captivating audiences across the globe. Critics rave about her “electricity at the keyboard,” that her performances “flow through her fingers and take on voltage” while generating “an energy that’s uniquely and unmistakably her own.

romance & rhapsody

Lensic Performing Arts Center

Major symphonies and instrumental concertos typically characterize the Staatskapelle Berlin's programs when it performs on concert stages in Berlin and around the world. In a special concert program, the orchestra and its General Music Director embark on a journey of discovery into the music of those decades when people sat rapt in front of the radio, listening to the sounds emanating from it—sounds that were both symphonic and jazzy, permeated by rhythmic energy and a captivating vibrancy that evokes images of the concert hall, the salon, or the dance floor. Music of high artistic sophistication that simultaneously creates a good mood.

Special concert “Music from distant radio days”

Bebelplatz

Love accompanies us in many forms: friendly, as with Joseph Haydn and Rebecca Schroeter, to whom he dedicated three of his piano trios; romantic, as with Dmitri Shostakovich, who composed his first piano trio for Tatiana Glivenko; and yearning, as with Johannes Brahms, who is said to have processed his feelings for Clara Schumann in his third piano quartet – perhaps you can hear the “Clara motif”?

3rd Gallery Concert

Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg

Glowing cheeks and a flutter in the stomach: At the first Valentine's Day concert at the Tonhalle in 2025, there was so much love in the air that the dome almost bent into a heart. This year, Alpesh Chauhan once again unleashes his full
charm, serving up musical temptations of all kinds together with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra.

Valentine's Day Concert

Tonhalle Düsseldorf

Creating a film to accompany a symphony is something special, after all, classical music is something abstract and leaves a lot of room for associations. But perhaps that is precisely the key. William Kentridge, to whom the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden have dedicated a focus in 2025, had plenty of associations with Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony and turned them into an impressive film for a visually-acoustic experience. Michael Sanderling, who enjoys an excellent reputation as a Shostakovich specialist, conducts this symphony while Kentridge's film is simultaneously shown on the big screen.

Kentridge and Shostakovich

Palace of Culture

Under the direction of Michael Sanderling, Dmitri Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony will be performed on the Dresden Memorial Day, a work deeply influenced by the experiences and traumas of the Stalin era. In it, Shostakovich processes darkness, pain, and hope that wrestle with each other in a very unique way. South African artist William Kentridge has created a film titled "Oh To Believe in Another World" for this piece, which interprets Shostakovich's symphony in a fascinating manner. With his characteristic collages, animations, and drawings, Kentridge takes a poetic look at the themes of loss and longing that resonate in the music. Music and film merge into a unique work of art that connects remembrance and art, while also forming a final accent of the Kentridge focus of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden 2025 (with exhibitions at the Albertinum, Kupferstich-Kabinett, and in the Puppet Theater Collection).

A cellist of international renown, Jan Vogler is no stranger to either of Shostakovich’s cello concertos. His 2020 recording of the Second garnered critical praise for its thoughtful introspection and ‘flawless intonation’ (The Classic Review). Shostakovich’s formidable First, generally agreed to be one of the most difficult concerto works for the instrument, performed by Jan, is certainly not to be missed.

Beethoven’s Eroica

‘Wong’s expansive gestures are audience-pleasing; sometimes it looked as if he was channelling the music from the performers to the audience in a very visual way.’

The Hallé – Beethoven’s Eroica

Music Director Xian Zhang introduces Seattle audiences to the dramatic, sensuous and completely unique sound world of Peking opera with Qigang Chen’s Iris Dévoilée (Iris Unveiled). Writing for Peking and Western-style singers and traditional Chinese instruments, he evokes Iris, the Greek goddess of the rainbow, and “eternal feminine” aspects — simple, coy, wanton, sentimental, jealous, melancholy, hysterical, lustful .... Balancing this music is the dark drama of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. Composed at a moment of political oppression and personal danger, its ambiguities and secrets reveal themselves differently to each listener, though its urgent and ecstatic finale always thrills.

Xian Conducts Iris Unveiled

Benaroya Hall

Three great classics in one must-hear program! Superstar violinist Hilary Hahn performs the melodic Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2, flanked by performances of one of Tchaikovsky’s most buoyantly joyful works and Shostakovich’s powerful Sixth Symphony. A great concert to share, whether you’re a longtime classical music buff or new to the experience.

Hilary Hahn Plays Prokofiev

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

The LSU Symphony kicks off the spring semester with works full of youthful energy, wit, and passion. The concert opens with Gabriela Frank's Three Latin American Dances—brimming with colorful orchestral timbres and vibrant rhythms. LSU faculty members Michael Gurt and Ross Ahlhorn will be featured in Shostakovich's virtuosic and witty Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings. The evening closes with an early gem of the young Beethoven: his Symphony No. 2 in D Major.

LSU Symphony Orchestra Presents Beethoven No. 2

Louisiana State University

Three contrasting moods frame this Hallé concert, beginning with the hushed solemnity of Sibelius’s Andante Festivo, originally written to mark the 25th anniversary of the Saynatsalo plywood mill but later a mainstay of dignified Finnish state occasions, including the composer’s own funeral. Steely defiance defines Shostakovich’s 1st Cello Concerto, performed here by leading German cellist Jan Vogler. Although he wrote it during the Soviet thaw under Kruschev, Shostakovich drew deeply on his memories of years of harassment suffered during the Stalin years, filling it with searing energy and keening melodies.

The Hallé

Royal Concert Hall Nottingham

At the February concert the Prague Philharmonia’s Chamber Music Series will host the Ševčík Quartet for the very first time. Among other things, they will play Leoš Janáček’s String Quartet No. 1, which he composed upon a suggestion of the Czech Quartet. It is a masterpiece by a composer who in his early seventies realized the importance of the string quartet as a musical form and brought his inspiration from Leo Tolstoy’s novella The Kreutzer Sonata into the work.

Janáček. Kodály. Shostakovich

The Professed House, Prague

A year of political and musical upheaval. The title of French composer Elsa Barraine's 2nd symphony is the Russian word for »war«, a work commissioned by the French Ministry for Culture in 1938. After the annexation of Austria and the Munich Agreement war was in the air, and subsequent events proved her right. But the work hints at a distant future. The war in the 1st movement is followed by a funeral march in the 2nd before the music returns to life in the finale.

6th Sunday & Monday Symphonic Concerts

Alte Oper

With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) continues to inspire audiences around the world. Founded in 1946 and hailed by The Boston Globe as “the most important American quartet in history,” the ensemble draws on a deep and vital engagement to the classics, while embracing the mission of championing new works, a vibrant combination of the familiar and the daring. Each performance of the Juilliard String Quartet is a unique experience, bringing together the four members’ profound understanding, total commitment, and unceasing curiosity in sharing the wonders of the string quartet literature.

Juilliard String Quartet

Public High School

In declining physical and mental health, Tchaikovsky struggled with profound inner turmoil while composing his intensely introspective and emotionally charged Sixth Symphony. Using music as an outlet for his anguish, longing, and profound despair, he poured his soul into a work that is as far-reaching as it is personal. His death just nine days after its premiere only added weight to this defining work of the Romantic period. One of the many legends that surround the work is that Tchaikovsky’s brother Modest came up with the name "Pathétique" which in his native Russian suggests “impassioned suffering.” Whether or not the composer acquiesced to this christening before his sudden death, it is uncannily suitable for the devastating psychological drama the symphony lays bare. In the hands of Jaime Martín, time-worn scores like Tchaikovsky’s quickly turn into fresh, spellbinding moments, an ability which has quickly cemented him as a favorite guest collaborator of your Colorado Symphony.

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 "Pathétique"

In 2024, the award-winning, celebrated violinist James Ehnes released Sibelius: Works for Violin and Orchestra. This recording includes the composer’s only violin concerto, which Ehnes will also perform in this concert with the CSO. Conductor Keitaro Harada leads two American ensembles, the Savannah Philharmonic and the Dayton Philharmonic (as of the 2025-26 season), in addition to his role as the Permanent Conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony

Gaillard Center

Composed to acknowledge an honorary degree despite not attending university, a mischievous Brahms penned the tongue-in-cheek Academic Festival Overture, featuring boisterous student drinking songs. Reinecke’s Concerto in E minor spotlights the harp in a virtuosic display of shimmering arpeggios and rhythmic optimism. The forced optimism of Symphony No. 5, glorifying Stalin’s regime, proved both career- and lifesaving for Shostakovich.

Shostakovich No. 5

Kleinhans Music Hall

Acclaimed pianist Sir Stephen Hough—a true master of his craft, longtime collaborator with our orchestra, and favorite among audiences—interprets Rachmaninoff’s perpetually popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Beginning with a simple theme, Rachmaninoff playfully reinvents it in 24 distinct variations, each one more imaginative than the last! The iconic 18th variation is widely regarded as one of the most achingly beautiful melodies ever written.

Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Sir Stephen Hough

Salt Palace Convention Center

Be moved by a program of towering contrasts, drama, and defiance. Behzod Abduraimov, “the most perfectly accomplished pianist of his generation” (The Independent), makes his NSO debut in Tchaikovsky’s thundering Piano Concerto No. 1. Gianandrea Noseda closes the concert with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8, an unflinching response to war wrapped in moments of tension, reflection, and strength.

Shostakovich’s Eighth Abduraimov plays Tchaikovsky

Kennedy Center

The Four Seasons, four evocative violin concerti by the Venetian composer, violinist, poet, and cleric Antonio Vivaldi (affectionately known as the Red Priest because of his flaming red hair), are considered the crown jewels of the Italian baroque. Dmitri Shostakovich wrote of the 1960 quartet on which the haunting Chamber Symphony is based, “When I die, no one will write music in my memory, so I decided to write it myself.” Heinrich Biber’s imaginative Battaglia is an early baroque soundscape of battle preparations, blunted by drunken musketeer songs, and war, ending with a mournful lament.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Winspear Centre

In communist Russia, Soviet officials called it an ‘optimistic tragedy’. Shostakovich simply called it his Tenth Symphony. Dark, tense, packed with secret messages and featuring at its centre a terrifying scherzo that might or might not be musical portrait of Stalin himself. Shostakovich’s Tenth is one of the greatest of all 20th-century symphonies, and few living conductors understand it more intimately than RPO Music Director Vasily Petrenko. ‘Shattering’ and ‘thrilling’ were just two of the words that critics used to describe his recording of the Tenth Symphony.

Shostakovich x Beethoven

Royal Festival Hall

Dmitri Shostakovich was an unsurpassed musical chronicler of his life and times, and of the Soviet state’s complicated relationship with artists. Despite being a highly decorated member of the Communist Party, he wrote works that clashed with the state and led to denouncements on multiple occasions. His body of music speaks to the tension of being both celebrated and denigrated by a government that fell short of its own ideals as it embraced paranoia and persecution.

Shostakovich: 1906-1975

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Young Georgian pianist Giorgi Gigashvili (born 2000) has quickly made a name for himself on the international concert scene. A major turning point came in 2019 when he won the prestigious Vigo International Piano Competition – with legendary pianist Martha Argerich as jury chair. He was a BBC New Generation Artist 2023–25 and is now nominated for ECHO Rising Stars.

Piano Solo – Giorgi Gigashvili

After bringing Dmitri Shostakovich’s early opera The Nose to life in a wonderfully grotesque staging, Barrie Kosky now turns his attention to a far more radical work by the Russian composer: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, a dark tale of sex and violence featuring one of opera’s most fascinating female characters.

La­dy Mac­beth of Mtsensk

Rediscover 20th-century classics that represent landmark moments in The Philadelphia Orchestra’s history! The Orchestra performed the 1922 U.S. premiere of Stravinsky’sThe Rite of Spring, the work that had so scandalized Paris audiences only nine years earlier. In 1934, the Orchestra gave the U.S. premiere of Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto, one of 11 of the composer's works this Orchestra brought to America for the first time. In these concerts, Shostakovich’s witty, irreverent Concerto will be performed by the “astonishing” Seong-Jin Cho, a pianist of “sensitivity, nuance, tremendous fluidity and elegance of style” (Bachtrack). 

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring

Written in 1891, the year before Dvorak began his sojourn in America, Carnival was second of a three-overture set and was originally titled “Life.” It was played at Carnegie Hall at Dvorak’s introductory concert in America.  The peasant nature of Karelia was deliberate – Sibelius’ intention was to capture the quality of naive, folk-based authenticity. The nationalistic character of the music is evident in each of the four movements extracted which form the Suite.

Sibelius & Shostakovich

Duluth Entertainment Convention Center

Maestro Harada leads an exuberant program that reflects his own journey from Japan to Russia, where he mastered the art of conducting. Akutagawa’s Prima Sinfonia ignites with rhythmic energy, bold brass, and striking contrasts, channeling the spirit of his Russian contemporaries. Shostakovich’s jubilant Festive Overture and deeply powerful Fifth Symphony bookend the concert, culminating in an unforgettable evening of sweeping emotion and vibrant sound.

Shostakovich 5 & Festive

Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center

The formidable Marianna Shirinyan is finally back! This time with Ravel's irresistible Piano Concerto, which offers both magnificent virtuosity, shimmering impressionism and swinging jazz. With Shirinyan in the lead role, Ravel's cornucopia of musical ideas sparkles and sparkles.

Ravel and Shostakovich

The Conservatory Concert Hall

Experience the intensity and emotional depth of two composers profoundly influenced by the tumult of Soviet Russia. Pianist Denis Kozhukhin, hailed as a “firebrand” (Chicago Tribune), dazzles in Rachmaninoff’s exhilarating Piano Concerto No. 4 and Shostakovich’s gripping Symphony No. 4 delivers raw power and emotion.

Rachmaninoff & Shostakovich

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

The Music Center at Strathmore

Let yourself be swept between beauty and artistic struggle in this Thursday concert, with Alexandra Conunova as the soloist in Britten's Violin Concerto.

Shostakovich & Brabbins

Malmö Concert Hall

Passion, versatility, and uncompromising artistic standards are the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's hallmarks. The orchestra returns to Krannert Center with its music director Vasily Petrenko for a rousing program highlighting the uncompromising excellence of the United Kingdom's most in-demand orchestra. The program's light-hearted opening, Berlioz's Overture to the comedic opera Beatrice and Benedict, contrasts the gravitas of the closing work, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, considered one of the greatest of all 20th-century symphonies. Vasily Petrenko brings a deep affinity for and love of Shostakovich's music to the podium; his insightful recordings of the composer's complete symphonic output have been lauded for their depth, integrity, musicality, and interpretive intelligence. The RPO welcomes Benjamin Grosvenor, "a genius who has reached the height of his interpretive powers" (Spectator), as soloist in Beethoven's playful Piano Concerto No. 1.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

This dynamic and varied programme begins in Soviet Russia via Shostakovich’s emotionally wrought Violin Sonata and ends in earlier romantic works by Brahms and Schubert.

Maxim Vengerov and Polina Osetinskaya in Recital

Barbican Centre

Guest Concert

Stadthalle am Schloss

Celebrating the 120th Anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich

Music Building and Recital Hall

Young British rising-star pianist Amiri Harewood made his concerto debut as a teenager, and his sweeping programme features pieces from around the world. There are Russian preludes from Rachmaninov, including the famous Alla Marcia, and from Shostakovich including a stately sarabande and glistening fugue. From America, George Walker’s fifth sonata from 2003 condenses the form into a dense five-minute burst. From Nigeria, Joshua Uzoigwe’s rhythmic piece is inspired by a traditional dance to a river deity. Finally, Granados’s seven waltzes capture the essence of Spanish dance in dazzling, rich colours.

Sunday Piano Series: Amiri Harewood

The award-winning Merz Trio, praised for their “stunning virtuosity and ensemble work” (Reading Eagle), is joined by soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon for a performance of Shostakovich’s hauntingly beautiful song cycle, exploring themes of love, longing, and loss. The program opens with Shostakovich’s youthful Piano Trio in C Minor and concludes with Dvořák’s masterful Piano Trio in F Minor, a work that captures the essence of the Romantic spirit.

Composer

Dmitri Shostakovich

Events

Upcoming events

Jun 27, 2025 - Apr 11, 2026

Klangzeit · Elbphilharmonie

Sep 21, 2025 - May 10, 2026

Chamber Concert / Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra · Elbphilharmonie

Jan 22 - Jun 16, 2026

Subscription Concert · Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie

Feb 20 - May 9, 2026

UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra 2026 · UC Berkeley Department of Music

Mar 15 - Apr 6, 2026

The Nose · Komische Oper Berlin

Past events

Mar 15 - Apr 6, 2026

The Nose · Komische Oper Berlin

Mar 15, 2026

Music of world leaders · Musikhuset Aarhus

About

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