Composer

Percussive bombast suggests an advancing army in Haydn’s Military Symphony No. 100 in this thrilling program conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero. After Julia Perry’s energetic Short Piece, young cello virtuoso Oliver Herbert joins the Grant Park Orchestra for Shostakovich’s lively Cello Concerto No. 1.

Haydn Military Symphony

Millennium Park

In the second symphony concert, we welcome another outstanding concert soloist: the Swedish soprano Maria Bengtsson, who has performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and the Berlin State Opera, among others, under the baton of Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Simone Young, Philippe Jordan, Vladimir Jurovsky, Riccardo Muti, Sebastian Weigle, and many others. Bengtsson will perform Alban Berg's "Seven Early Songs" with the Symphony Orchestra: the song cycle, which combines texts by forgotten poets such as Paul Hohenberg and Carl Hauptmann with Rilke, Lenau, and Storm, tells the story of a great love.

Symphony Concert 2

University of Music in Detmold

You can’t have missed the buzz around The Kanneh-Masons; one of Britain’s most musical families.

EPSG:4326

Steinway Special: The Kanneh-Masons

Bute Park

Following the conclusion of our 25/26 subscription season, join us for “A Community Gift and Dream — for the Love of Music” June 13-14, 2026.

A Community Gift and Dream — for the Love of Music

Overture Center for the Arts

Chamber Concert “In memoriam”

Evangelische Akademie Tutzing

Munich Residence

We have been searching for the right opportunity to perform Shostakovich's Eleventh Symphony for a long time, until conductor Case Scaglione came up with this desire. After two years, Hungarian virtuoso Gábor Boldoczki also returns to the Prague Symphony to reunite two old friends: Dmitri Shostakovich and Mieczyslaw Weinberg.

Gábor Boldoczki & Case Scaglione

Municipal House

Čajkovskij & Rachmaninov

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre

The chamber music ensembles of the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole

Gregory Hughes, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, leads a bold and invigorating program that pairs two revolutionary symphonies. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, full of wit, irony, and unexpected charm, opens the evening with a satirical twist on traditional symphonic form. In contrast, Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” closes the program—an enduring masterpiece that forever changed the course of classical music with its heroic scale, emotional depth, and sheer power.

Hughes Conducts Beethoven

Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture

Brothers Demarre and Anthony McGill give a world premiere by jazz piano icon Billy Childs reflecting on America's 250th. Rachmaninoff unapologetically captures the Russian musical spirit in his Symphony No. 3, while Shostakovich elicits a celebratory mood.

Rachmaninoff 3

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

The Music Center at Strathmore

The FIFA 2026 World Cup comes to Santa Clara County, but before any of the globe’s greatest soccer players hit the pitch, Symphony San Jose’s all-star musicians will showcase a line-up of international greats of their own.

Symphonic World Cup

California Theatre

Experience our end-of-season Concertino event up close in an informal setting. At the general rehearsal, our supporters can gain an insight into the preparation process.

Meeting point in the foyer of the Liszt Academy between 9:30 and 9:50. Attendance at the general rehearsal is free of charge for members of our BFO Patrons club, but subject to prior registration. Registration is available on the website after logging in.

Concertino: C.P.E. Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Shostakovich, Beethoven

Liszt Academy

This electrifying Australian group, founded in 2007 by brothers Daniel Kowalik (violin) and Karol Kowalik (cello), and friends Thomas Chawner (viola) and David Dalseno (violin), is one of the most exciting string quartets of its generation. Known for their engaging performances, they inspire reviews like this one from the Canberra CityNews: “incredible passion, fire and intensity. The audience erupted in thunderous applause and cheers. It was an electric and enthralling evening of the finest music making.”

Orava Quartet

St. John's Episcopal Church Portsmouth

Luke Wejman, cello

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Chamber music icons in the former Rothschild orangery. The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester) presents three captivating trios by Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, and Schubert at the premiere of its "Chamber Flicker" series in the historic pavilion in Frankfurt's Günthersburgpark. An early stroke of genius by the young Shostakovich meets a musical gem from the late Schubert and Rachmaninoff's melancholic "Trio élégiaque No. 1." Shostakovich was just 17 when he composed his Piano Trio, which was only published from his posthumous manuscripts in 1983. Schubert's Piano Trio is one of his last and most mature works, which, according to Robert Schumann, swept over the musical scene of the time "like an angry apparition from heaven."

Trio élégiaque

Orangerie

35th Season Finale

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Tristen Johnson, cello

For our final program, Maestro Haimor has chosen Valerie Coleman’s anthem of unity Umoja to begin, followed by the return of Bay Area native and Marin favorite, cellist Oliver Herbert, performing Shostakovich’s virtuosic and exciting Cello Concerto No.1. We close our season with Dvořák’s optimistic, triumphant Eighth Symphony.

Masterworks 4: Shostakovich & Dvořák

College of Marin

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra

Northwestern University

Osborne brings his love of both genres to the fore, performing Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (for piano and trumpet soloists) alongside his favourite jazz standards, arranged specially for this programme. 

We’re also joined by the brilliant trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo, whose playing moves effortlessly from the mellow charm of Gershwin to the raw intensity of Shostakovich. 

Fantasia Orchestra with Steven Osborne

Smith Square Hall

Three of the world’s most celebrated musicians perform three powerful, idiosyncratic piano trios. The first half of the program is steeped in Jewish music and memory, pairing Rosowsky’s rarely performed Fantastic Dance on Hebrew Themes for Piano Trio with Shostakovich’s devastating Piano Trio No. 2, a searing expression of both intense personal grief and freshly discovered horrors perpetrated during World War II. Tchaikovsky’s immense, sole Piano Trio follows. A wide-ranging and folk-infused musical elegy, it is a notable predecessor to Shostakovich’s trio, and yet it remains one-of-a-kind in its fascinating, masterful construction.

Evgeny Kissin, Piano, Joshua Bell, Violin, and Steven Isserlis, Cello

Folly Theater

Šostakovič - Symphony No. 5

William Johnson, cello

Stravinsky’s extravagant Song of the Nightingale is based on a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. John Adams’s work was inspired by the colors, shapes, and sounds of Stravinsky’s piece. Stories of fanciful birds continue with music from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and DSO Principal Cello Wei Yu performs Shostakovich’s moving concerto.

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Other Tales

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Three times Shostakovich, and three times a completely different facet: first in a thrillingly exhilarating orchestral overture, then in the powerfully fresh sonic shower of the Second Piano Concerto with its warm, jewel-like middle movement, and finally in the Fifth Symphony, which triumphs in an almost surreal way. Kahchun Wong, who in 2016 became the first Asian to win the prestigious Mahler Competition of the Bamberg Symphony, takes the podium of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra for the first time. He will delve deep into Shostakovich's world, together with a pianist who knows his way around it like few others. "I'm addicted to Shostakovich's music, to this raw power," says Boris Giltburg, whose CD recording of the Shostakovich piano concertos is among the best currently available. What Giltburg observes for himself also defines the listening experience: "This is music that makes you tremble.

Pure Shostakovich

Hessischer Rundfunk

Having already conducted two hugely popular works from the symphonic canon this season – Beethoven's 9th Symphony and Bruckner's 7th Symphony – Stefan Blunier 's third guest appearance presents compositions we don't often encounter in concert. Dmitri Shostakovich may be one of the 20th century's most important composers, but with "Two Pieces by Domenico Scarlatti for Wind Orchestra" we experience him at the very beginning of his career, before he was banned by the Soviet cultural watchdogs. The program then features Paul Hindemith, ostracized by the Nazis, one of Duisburg-born Frank Peter Zimmermann 's favorite composers . His recording of Hindemith's Violin Concerto has even been praised in the music press as a new benchmark recording: a work that shows the composer less as a feared "public enemy," but rather exposes his accessible, lyrical side. The final movement of Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 4 offers a spectacular "duel" between two timpani. Here, the horrors of the First World War resonate, to which the composer counters the "inextinguishable" in the hymn-like chorale at the end: the elemental will to live, as Nilsen himself interpreted the title.

The Indelible

CityPalais

Explore how music and poetry unite to amplify powerful voices of dissent, resistance, and hope with the Portland Chamber Orchestra. Banner & Burden: Music and Spoken Word is a bold collaboration with the Oregon Poetry Association, featuring original spoken word performances by emerging young poets whose words illuminate the tribulations—and triumphs—of our community.

This moving program showcases evocative works by composers who have used their music to speak truth to power, including the vibrant, contemporary voice of Jessie Montgomery, Valerie Coleman’s celebration of identity and unity, and the deeply expressive music of Dmitri Shostakovich, composed in the shadow of political oppression.

Banner & Burden: Music and Spoken Word

Patricia Reser Center for the Arts

With the performance of Shostakovich’s 5th symphony, the Diablo Symphony remembers this great composer in his 50th anniversary season. The difficulties under which Shostakovich composed permeate the deep and complex emotions of this extraordinary and brilliant work. Performed alongside works by two American composers which celebrate the joys and bravery of everyday existence, this program explores the whole gamut of human emotions. Don’t miss this powerful finale to our season!

Season Finale: Shostakovich 5

Lesher Center for the Arts

New Voices is Trio con Brio's new three-year concert series, which Aarhus Musikforening shares with Boulez-Saal Berlin and Diamanten in Copenhagen. Two of the concerts fall in the 25/26 season, and each concert program includes a world premiere, an important 20th-century piano trio, and one of the great piano quintets.

Trio con Brio - New Voices 2

Lille Sal Musikhuset

Guest performance in Dortmund

Konzerthaus Dortmund

It seems strange to suggest that Hana Chang is at the beginning of a great career. But a glance at her diary shows that this young artist is already at the centre of international concert life. She performs with orchestras such as the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Utah Symphony Orchestra. Recitals have taken her to America, Europe and Asia. Her chamber music partners include Janine Jansen, Daniel Müller-Schott and Francesco Piemontesi. Hana Chang's competition successes are equally impressive: she has won prizes at the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the International Louis Spohr Competition, the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and many others. In the Debut Series, Hana Chang, who is currently receiving the finishing touches as an outstanding performer with Christian Tetzlaff at the Kronberg Academy, will also be making her debut at the Alte Oper.

Hana Chang, Violin

Alte Oper

The concerts of the Gewandhaus Orchestra are the centrepieces of Frankfurt's Opera Square. It goes without saying that great symphonic music is on the programme at the regular dates of the orchestra with its significant history. On the podium: Andris Nelsons, who has been Gewandhauskapellmeister since 2018. This time, Nelsons and the Leipzig orchestra will be performing two powerful masterpieces that give a glimpse into the soul of their creators: One theory about Dmitri Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony is that he worked through times of deep suffering after Stalin's death. The theory is controversial, but it cannot be denied that the composer gave a harrowing testimony to himself with this work. Sergei Rachmaninov composed himself back to life from a severe creative crisis with his second piano concerto. For Yulianna Avdeeva, music is also a spiritual indicator: ‘With the piano, you share your innermost feelings and thoughts that you often can't put into words.’

Gewandhaus Orchestra

An uplifting program of resilience, remembrance, and inspiration. Featuring stirring works like Fanfare for the Common Man, selections from Shostakovich’s mighty Fifth Symphony, and the moving Song of Hope. Trumpet soloists Dan Marbes, Adam Gaines, and Kevin Short, along with student and community brass players, join the Civic Symphony of Green Bay to celebrate the power of music to unite and heal. Concertmaster Taylor Giorgio will be featured on Schindler’s List.

Harmonies for Hope

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Season Finale 2026

The Independence School

His Fifth Symphony depicts "the development of personality," explained Dmitri Shostakovich. But the highly emotional music from 1937 also documents his threatening situation during the Stalin era. At times pleading, at times hectically overexcited, the music culminates in an overwhelming finale. Franz Liszt's First Piano Concerto is similarly captivating. It is a welcome challenge for the up-and-coming Israeli pianist Yoav Levanon, making his debut with the WDR Symphony Orchestra. The conductor is the Greek Constantinos Carydis. He opens the evening with a work by his fellow countryman Periklis Koukos: a sonorous prologue to Homer's "Odyssey."

Between the Lines - Shostakovich's Fifth

Museum Ludwig

Violins of Hope

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

Join Maxim and the SCO musicians for an electrifying and emotional conclusion to the Season – with one of the most cherished symphonies of them all.

Dvořák 'New World' Symphony

Usher Hall

City Halls

Perth Concert Hall

Join Maxim and the SCO musicians for an electrifying and emotional concert featuring one of the most cherished symphonies of them all.

Perth Concert Series: Scottish Chamber Orchestra - Dvořák 'New World' Symphony

Seen as the one of the most exciting chamber ensembles of their generation, the Paddington Trio, winners of the 2023 Parkhouse Award, have been recognised in international competitions and live performances for their fresh interpretations and exuberant energy. Like the famous bear of the same name, Finnish violinist Tuulia Hero, Irish cellist Patrick Moriarty and American pianist Stephanie Tang have made London their home. They are now considered one of the leading piano trios of their generation.

Paddington Trio

Corn Exchange Newbury

Join us as the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra offers a festive preview of some of the upcoming season's musical highlights. Look forward to a potpourri of exuberant excerpts and movements, presented in an inviting format that whets the appetite for all that awaits.

Preview: Season 26/27

Aarhus Music Hall

Reimagined brings familiar works into unexpected instrumental settings, offering a fresh perspective on well-known repertoire. Featuring Franck’s Violin Sonata arranged for saxophone and piano, Martin’s Ballade, and Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 1, the program explores new colours, contrasts, and dialogue between instruments, bringing energy and character to these timeless masterpieces.

Reimagined

Ian Hanger Recital Hall - IHRH

Mary Brook Hartmann, Cello and Stephen Chang, Viola

The Juilliard School

6.  Chamber Concert

Salón Coliseo

Alban Gerhardt, one of today's leading cellists, accepted the Rostock invitation and, with his technical perfection and profound musicality, promises an extraordinary concert event. The versatile artist will perform Dmitri Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 2, which, between the lines, was intended as an ironic response to the double standards of the Soviet officials who denounced him during Stalin's lifetime and later courted him. Written for Mstislav Rostropovich, the concerto premiered with the legendary cellist on the composer's 60th birthday in Moscow on September 25, 1966.

9th Philharmonic Concert / Finally

Volkstheater Rostock

Culinary Sunday Matinee No. 6

Hotel & Restaurant Schwarzer Bär

YOSA Philharmonic closes the season with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, a gripping journey from darkness to triumph. The program also includes Walton’s Crown Imperial, a spotlight on the YOSA Concerto Competition winner, and a performance by YOSA Capriccio Strings.

Shostakovich Five

YOSA

YOSA Philharmonic brings its season to a close with Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5, a gripping journey from darkness to triumph. This deeply moving work was born under the pressure of Soviet oppression and captures the resilience of the human spirit in the face of fear and control. Full of raw emotion, irony, and defiance, it continues to provoke and move listeners nearly a century after its premiere.

YOSA Presents: Shostakovich Five

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

Gold Medalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2013 and a Fort Worth favorite, Vadym Kholodenko’s distinguished pianism and profound artistic gifts have led to invitations from many of the world’s finest orchestras and concert halls. Combining fierce pianism, an unrivalled breadth of repertoire, and a level of interpretative refinement that ascends to the realms of poetry, Mr. Kholodenko rises as an artist the likes of which the world has rarely seen since the great pianists of the Golden Age. He has forged strong musical partnerships with many leading conductors and has appeared on the world’s leading stages — from London, Paris, and Vienna to Boston, Chicago, and New York — where he is praised for his “iron-clad technique, capable of moments of crystalline delicacy” (The Guardian).

Subtle Connections Across the World - Vadym Kholodenko and Friends

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

The future is now! The Reno Phil welcomes all four of its Youth Orchestras to the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts stage to showcase their hard work. See the Youth Strings Ensemble, Youth Strings Symphonia, Youth Concert Orchestra and Youth Symphony Orchestra perform as they play a variety of favorites.

RPYO Spring Showcase

Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts

A Good Man is Hard to Find draws inspiration from the 2008 financial crash, and the “Cremation of Care” ceremony; an annual ritual ceremony where the global elite banish their guilt, by the San Francisco private members club Bohemian Grove.

BULLYACHE A Good Man is Hard to Find

Sadler's Wells East

Jake Westerbeke, viola

Sergei Prokofiev was in New York when the Zimro Ensemble, a sextet of his former classmates from St. Petersburg, performed there. The group specialized in Jewish music and performed their program several times at Carnegie Hall. Asked to write an overture for the sextet, Prokofiev wrote a roughly ten-minute piece with the character of klezmer music—with a lively theme for the clarinet and a more contemplative theme for the cello. In 1934, Prokofiev also arranged the "Overture on Hebrew Themes" for a small orchestra.

What does my name mean to you?

Bochumer Symphoniker

The superb young Toronto pianist Vanessa Yu joins the orchestra in one of the greatest concertos of all time, Beethoven’s noble Piano Concerto No. 5, the “Emperor.” Music director Nurhan Arman leads the orchestra in Dmitri Shostakovich’s poignant and personal Chamber Symphony in C minor Op. 110a and finishes with the powerful reassurance of J.S. Bach’s “Contrapunctus 1” and “Contrapunctus 2” in beautifully transparent orchestral versions.

Sinfonia Toronto: THE EMPEROR | Beethoven - Shostakovich - Bach

Meridian Arts Centre

A superb young Toronto pianist plays Beethoven's noble Emperor Concerto and  the season wraps with one of Shostakovich's most personal masterpieces and the eternal genius of Bach 

The Emperor

Elim Chan leads Rachmaninoff’s ever-popular Piano Concerto No. 3, performed by Lukáš Vondráček, along with Shostakovich’s playful and witty Ninth Symphony. The program also includes a moving World Première by Indigenous composer Cris Derksen, created in collaboration with the Centre for Addiction and MentalHealth (CAMH).

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3

David Pecaut Square

In the ensemble's final performance of the season, the KSUSO will perform the powerful and emotionally complex Symphony No. 5 by Dimitri Shostakovich. Join the KSUSO for this special performance on Thursday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the McCain Auditorium. This concert is free and open to the public.

KSU Symphony Orchestra - Woven Facade

Kansas State University

Great things come in small packages! The prelude and fugue is a musical form as old as Bach – a concentrated work-out for mind, heart and (of course) fingers. Shostakovich was never more playful – or profound – than in his Preludes and Fugues for solo piano, and today RWCMD artist-in-association Llŷr Williams completes his personal adventure through all 24 of these jewels of 20th century piano music.

Llŷr Williams: Shostakovich Preludes & Fugues II

In turbo speed from the 18th to the 20th century: The Sonic.Art Saxophone Quartet moves effortlessly from Bach's B Minor Suite to Bernstein's West Side Story in the space of half an hour, condensing the sound colours of an entire orchestra onto soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. In the lunchtime concert, the four musicians from Belarus, Australia, Japan and Germany show how these worlds can be brought together with virtuosity. Their stylistic confidence, joy of playing and technical as well as musical perfection have already earned these well-rehearsed musicians a number of important international awards. We are looking forward to their debut at the Alte Oper and combine the event with an invitation to a small lunch in our foyers after the concert.

sonic.art Saxophonquartett

London Symphony Orchestra

Musikverein Wien

Chamber Concert No. 7 (2026)

Town Hall Hall

Life and Fate

Schauspielhaus Bochum

“Last week I gave a ball in my own rooms . . . we began at 6 in the evening and stopped at 7—what? only an hour?—no, no—at seven in the morning.” — W. A. Mozart 

Beginning with Mozart, who was an avid and reportedly expert dancer, this program offers a unique opportunity to enjoy the special synergy between music and dance: from composers who created dance music for social gatherings like the “Waltz King” Johann Strauss, Jr., to artistic representations of folk dances by Johannes Brahms and David Serkin Ludwig.

Invitation to the Dance

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, famed for its romantic 18th variation, features pianist Federico Colli. Conductor Case Scaglione leads this program including John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a thrilling orchestral sprint and the powerful and defiant Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.

Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

Phoenix Convention Center

Hosted by Classic FM and sports presenter Karthi Gnanasegaram, who knows her way around a football pitch as well as a stadium anthem!

The Beautiful Game

National Football Museum

Samuel Lee conducts the Carlo Felice Foundation Orchestra. Alexander Gadjiev on piano. Music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Dmitri Shostakovich

Rach 2

Carlo Felice Theater

Embark on a sweeping musical journey with the drama of Tchaikovsky’s magnificent Fifth Symphony, the gripping intensity of Shostakovich’s Second Violin Concerto with the brilliant Elina Vähälä, and an exciting World Première by RBC Affiliate Composer Liam Ritz.

Enhance your concert experience by arriving early for exquisite performances by the TSO Chamber Soloists, thoughtfully curated by Jonathan Crow. There will be a pre-concert performance at 1:45pm included with the price of your ticket to the Sunday, April 26 performance.

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth

"It'll be a really fun show with some of the most insanely talented musicians playing some of the best music ever written... All you have to know is - do you like a good tune? Because we're going to be playing a ton of those." - Chris Addison

Chris Addison’s Incomplete Guide to Chamber Music

Cast

We look forward to a grand concert with a small ensemble: The program features highly emotional soundscapes that at times explore the boundaries of chamber music. One biographer remarked that Shostakovich's Second Piano Trio is "probably the most tragic" work in the composer's oeuvre – and explained: "While he was previously familiar with the pathos of his own personal tragedy, here he expresses the tragedy of a generation that has endured death and suffering.

Chamber concert: Piano trio

Bamberger Symphoniker

The seventh chamber music concert will offer a cross-section of both less performed and notoriously known composers. The Romanian composer and violinist George Enescu, whose works are inspired by Romanian folk music, is one of the greatest composers of his country. The evening is also dedicated to Dmitri Shostakovich. Two of his works will be heard, one of which is the demanding String Quartet No. 8.

Shostakovich. Enescu. Reger

The Professed House, Prague

Shostakovich, Saariaho, and Brahms

Curtis Institute of Music

Teatro alla Scala String Quartet

Teatro alla Scala

We close our 2025–26 season with a concert that will MOVE you—in every sense of the word.
​

Pacific Northwest harpist Elizabeth Landis takes the spotlight in Ginastera’s Harp Concerto, a thrilling and percussive showpiece full of Latin American vibrance. A familiar face in the regional music scene, Landis performs regularly with Seattle Symphony, Symphony Tacoma, and Northwest Sinfonietta—and now steps center stage with the Olympia Symphony.

Move

Washington Center for the Performing Arts

Hidden Heroines

Worthing Assembly Hall

A CMSFW favorite, this group is one of the most inspiring, dynamic and charismatic ensembles on the musical scene. They have establish themselves as performers of deep emotion, intellect, virtuosity and technical brilliance. To commemorate their 25th anniversary, the quartet will perform the same program from their first concert.

Subtle Connections Across the World - Atrium String Quartet - 25th Anniversary Concert

Chamber Music Division Recital

560 Music Center

Shostakovich’s immersive Second Cello Concerto weaves a wide-ranging rhapsody that is brooding and spooky with moments of levity from the least likely of sources: a bagel. Inspiration is nothing if unpredictable, and Shostakovich’s muse was the Ukrainian street vendor’s song “Who will buy my bagel?”, which he transformed into a challenging cello tour de force. On stage and in her celebrated 2016 album featuring the concerto, Alisa Weilerstein has been praised for her deft interpretation of the work, leading The Guardian to write, “Her playing ranged from tranquil passages of sensual beauty to rough, demotic outbursts performed with the furious expression of one who has been rudely awoken from a beautiful dream.”

Shostakovich & Sibelius

Walt Disney Concert Hall

The German-American Augustin Hadelich is considered one of the world's most outstanding violinists. He has enjoyed a special friendship with the WDR Symphony Orchestra for a long time. Now, together, they will perform Dmitri Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto – a work full of gripping emotion, ranging from deep pain to grotesque humor and feverish energy. Dima Slobodeniouk will conduct from his adopted home of Finland, performing two magnificent orchestral works by Jean Sibelius: the enchanting tone poem "Pohjola's Daughter" opens the concert, before the Second Symphony concludes with a radiant finale.

Composer

Dmitri Shostakovich

Events

Upcoming events

Apr 15 - Jun 28, 2026

Subscription Concert · Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie

Jun 22, 2026

Close Encounters: Beyond the Lark · English Chamber Orchestra

22 - 23 Jun, 2026

Brahms: Symphony No. 4 | Marko Letonja · Bremer Philharmoniker

Jun 24, 2026

Special Concert International Shostakovich Festival Gohrisch · Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Jun 26, 2026

Kissinger Summer · Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

Past events

Jun 17, 2026

Haydn Military Symphony · Grant Park Music Festival

Jun 16, 2026

Symphony Concert 2 · Landestheater Detmold

About

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