Composer

It was a close call for American Gabriella Smith to pursue a career in marine biology rather than composition – it's no coincidence that her music references flora and fauna. Nature also inspires Dvořák in a serene Eighth : "At dawn, he wanders through the fields, moors, and forests surrounding the hamlet. It is in their intimacy that his musical ideas are born," noted his first biographer. This contrasts sharply with Shostakovich's First Concerto , completed in the midst of Stalinist terror, performed by the young Ukrainian Dmytro Udovychenko and his compatriot Oksana Lyniv for their National debuts.

Dvořák, Symphony No. 8 / Oksana Lyniv

Maison de la Radio et de la Musique

Andrés Orozco-Estrada visits the Swedish Radio Concert Hall, Berwaldhallen, to perform Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme for cello and orchestra, inspired by the composer's idol Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, together with the Radio Symphony Orchestra and their own solo cellist Aleksei Kiseliov. Ottorino Respighi in turn composed the orchestral music for the ballet La boutique fantasque, based on piano pieces by Gioachino Rossini. In tonight's concert, we will hear a suite from the ballet, described as a mix between The Nutcracker and Toy Story. Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9 concludes the concert.

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Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9

Berwaldhallen

Sumin Kim, viola

Curtis Institute of Music

A child of separation, the American Steve Reich, a pioneer of minimalist music, regularly traveled back and forth by train between New York and Los Angeles. During these long journeys, one thought constantly preoccupied him: had he been born a little earlier in Europe, with his Jewish heritage, he would undoubtedly have traveled on different trains. This is what gave rise in 1988 to Different Trains , a string quartet with a soundtrack.

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Lille Opera

3rd Chamber Concert

Reithalle

British violinist Callum Smart returns by popular demand to Lexington Symphony to perform Shostakovich’s evocative Violin Concerto No. 1. Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned by Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Serge Koussevitsky in 1943. This popular piece is filled with opportunities for each section of the orchestra to shine as the piece builds to an exuberant conclusion.

Pushing the Limits

Isaac Harris Cary Memorial Building

WhenThe Prince's Music Corpsinvites you to a concert with the American-Swedish sopranoBarbara Hendricks, a world-class musical event is planned. Hendricks is one of the 20th century's most brilliant opera stars whose voice fascinates audiences to this day.

Barbara HendricksandThe Prince's Music Corps

Aarhus Music Hall

This evocative concert begins with the Grammy-nominated ensemble Sandbox Percussion’s performance of Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al—for percussion quartet and orchestra full of eclectic soundscapes that explore themes of transformation and resilience. Shostakovich’s Symphony No.8 is a powerful work reflecting on war as a force of destruction and suffering, while juxtaposing it with the endurance and resilience of the human spirit.

Shostakovich 8

Ohio Theatre

The first four-night concert of the spring is all about love. “It’s a work of sunshine!” says Marianna Shirinyan about Shostakovich’s second piano concerto. “Shostakovich wrote it for his son, and it’s a concert filled with love.”

Thursday Evening Concert: Comedy

Unleash your inner detective as the Philharmonic unravels an interactive murder mystery piece by piece.

Murder at the Philharmonic

Zimmerli Plaza

Music straight from the heart and to the heart! Experience our heart's blood: Music created by love – and love created by music.
The first four-night concert of the spring is all about love. “It’s a work of sunshine!” says Marianna Shirinyan about Shostakovich’s second piano concerto. “Shostakovich wrote it for his son, and it’s a concert filled with love.”

Pleasure play

Praised as “technically flawless and impeccably musical” (International Piano), 23-year-old Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko has taken the piano world by storm with his technical genius, winning the prestigious Honens International Piano Competition in 2022. Now, he makes his Symphony Nova Scotia debut performing Shostakovich’s bright, virtuosic Piano Concerto – considered a crowning achievement of his orchestral works – spotlighting our very own Curtis Dietz. Plus, our orchestra performs Ashdla’ from Raven Chacon – a Diné (or Navajo) composer and the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music winner – and a chamber orchestra version of Mahler’s mighty, miraculous “Titan” Symphony for the first time in almost a decade.

Mahler’s Titan Symphony

Dalhousie University

Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto is subtle, playful music, full of love – literally: the concerto was written for the composer's young son. It is teasing rather than harsh – a rare example of Shostakovich in a good mood! And who better to convey music of the most loving kind than Aarhus Symphony Orchestra's Artist in Residence, Marianna Shirinyan?

Rachmaninoff 2

Marianna Shirinyan sparkles in Shostakovich – and the orchestra revels in Rachmaninov.
An entire concert of classical music when it's at its easiest to love!

In demand since its formation in 2017, the Victoria String Quartet has performed for chamber music societies and festivals throughout the UK and has been hailed as an ensemble ‘brim full with pedigree and wide experience’.

Victoria String Quartet

Leeds Conservatoire

This program brings together three landmark works, each a defining moment in its composer’s journey. Brahms’ electrifying Scherzo, his first published piece, bursts with youthful fire. Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2, written during World War II and at the midpoint of his life, stands at the center of the piano trio repertoire—an intense and haunting testament to the human spirit.

rahms, Shostakovich, and Schubert

Trinity Episcopal Church of Vero Beach

Lukas Stepp has been concertmaster of the 2nd violins of the Staatskapelle Dresden since the beginning of 2019.

Chamber Music Evening N° 6

Semperoper Dresden

This concert celebrates music faculty from Ohio's universities. COS Concertmaster (and Wright State faculty) Tom Sobieski will perform the solo part in A Tempered Wish by Ching-chu Hu (Denison University). Bruce Murray (Miami University) will perform Ravel's sparkling Piano Concerto in G, and join with principal trumpeter Dale Nawrocki for Shostakovich's tongue-in-cheek Piano Concerto #1. Music Director Jaime Morales-Matos (Miami University) will lead the orchestra in Beethoven's Fourth Symphony.

Beethoven's 4th Symphony

Ohio Wesleyan University

Opening

Wallraf-Richartz Museum

The Viano Quartet continues to amaze listeners nationwide, and their program at CMS shows the remarkable range of their repertoire. After firmly establishing their Classical and Romantic credentials with delightful Haydn and effervescent Mendelssohn, the Viano moves to the 20th century with Webern’s hyper-expressive single movement, followed by Shostakovich’s 9th Quartet, which builds through five interconnected sections to a pinnacle of orchestral intensity.

The Viano Quartet

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

It is no exaggeration to say that you have not heard the extraordinary power of the viola until you have heard Tabea Zimmermann play it. Regularly cited as the world’s greatest living violist, her revelatory performances have been sold-out triumphs on our past seasons. In a rare U.S. recital appearance featuring the long-awaited debut of Spanish pianist Javier Perianes, the duo brings a deeply retrospective program spanning the poetic lyricism of Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces and Brahms’ late second viola sonata, Britten’s melancholic tribute to Renaissance composer John Dowland in its seldom-performed original arrangement, and Shostakovich’s final composition, written weeks before the composer’s death. This is music at its most profound—played by instrumentalists at their most transcendent.

Tabea Zimmermann, Viola Javier Perianes, Piano

Richardson Auditorium

Thursday Concert No. 7 (2026)

Volkshaus Jena

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

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

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?

Music of world leaders

Lille Sal Musikhuset

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

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

The Bridgewater Hall

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

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

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

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

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

. 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

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

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

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

"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 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

Expressive, dynamic, spectacular – the Aris Quartet has been at home on international stages for more than a decade. With its unmistakable sound, it has long been known as one of the world’s top-rank chamber music ensembles.

Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center

War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

Lesher Center for the Arts

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.

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

Guest performance in Mülheim an der Ruhr

Stadthalle

Rhapsody & Romance

Belfast

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

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

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

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).

‘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

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

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.

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

Apr 2, 2026

Dvořák, Symphony No. 8 / Oksana Lyniv · Orchestre National de France

1 - 2 Apr, 2026

Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9 · Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

About

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