Composer

“O fortuna!” Right from its famous opening notes, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana shakes the Stifel to its foundation. Orff’s work charts the course of fate with songs of joy, love, and celebration. Stéphane crafts a first half trilogy of loss and fateful farewell. In Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, pure sounds are as if directly descended from heaven, then Lera Auerbach brings us to the heat of the sun in Icarus. In the Love-death from Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde we end with a salute to eternal love.  

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Carmina Burana

Stifel Theatre

These Russian-born composers charted routes of resistance and freedom that still resonate today. Tchaikovsky, secretly gay and openly enraptured with the music of the West, poured his love and anguish into the Violin Concerto that mixed Russian intensity into the impeccable traditions of the Classical masters. Stravinsky, untested and overlooked in his home country, astonished the crowds in Paris with his supernatural ballet based on the Russian fairy tales of the Firebird. Lera Auerbach, who defected from the Soviet Union as a teenage prodigy, has matured into an experienced talent who pulls no punches.

Stravinsky’s The Firebird

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

The Music Center at Strathmore

Formed in Israel as teenagers at their Jerusalem middle school, the Ariel Quartet is now renowned worldwide for their fiery, dynamic performing style and soulful interpretations. In celebration of their 20th anniversary in 2020, the Ariel Quartet was the recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition of their artistic achievements. Based in Cincinnati, the Ariel Quartet is the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where they present a concert series in addition to maintaining a busy touring schedule in the United States and abroad.

Ariel Quartet with Orion Weiss, piano

St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ

Maestro Constantine Orbelian leads Festival Orchestra Napa and a stellar lineup of soloists in Seasons of Hope, an evening of works featuring stories of courage, sacrifice, and hope. Cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper and vocal ensemble Volti perform Lera Auerbach’s Symphony No. 6, Vessels of Light, a piece dedicated to the extraordinary heroism of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who saved thousands of Jewish refugees during World War II.

Seasons of Hope

Festival Napa Valley Stage at Charles Krug

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra welcomes guest conductor Nicholas Carter for music inspired by the lust for adventure. Lera Auerbach's Icarus evokes the mythic traveler whose waxen wings lift him to the heavens. The noble music of Wagner's Götterdämmerung follows the hero Siegfried down the Rhine, and Vaughan Williams' roiling Sea Symphony pays tribute to the countless souls who have set sail, only to be swallowed by the deep. It's an evening of evocative tone painting, cast in technicolor by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

A Sea Symphony

Atlanta Symphony Hall

Pianist Pallavi Mahidhara returns to our stage, this time performing Camille Saint-Saens’ Concerto alongside stories of star-cross lovers and ill-fated heroes.

William Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers has inspired many musical settings, including operas, overtures, and ballets. Sergei Prokofiev’s interpretation brings out the hope of love and the agony of loss, taking us all on a moving emotional journey. Russian composer Lera Auerbach’s retelling of the myth of Icarus, whose audacity took him too close to the sun, is captivating and fresh. In between, Camille Saint-Saëns’s Concerto has the perfect balance of virtuosity and heart, played by Pallavi Mahidhara, whose performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in 2019 brought audiences to their feet.

Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet

Hult Center for the Performing Arts

SERGE PROKOFIEV: Music from Romeo and Juliet

Romeo & Juliet - Prokofiev

Paramount Theatre

The Mesa-Yakushev Duo is Cuban-American cellist Thomas Mesa, winner of the $50,000 First Prize in the 2016 Sphinx Competition, and Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev, with many awards and honors to his credit. The duo’s career was launched in part by their extremely successful showcase for presenters at Weill/Carnegie Recital Hall, the result of winning APAP’s highly competitive 2017 Young Performers Career Advancement audition.

Lera Auerbach

Composer

Events

17 - 18 Feb, 2024

Carmina Burana · St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Nov 30 - Dec 3, 2023

Stravinsky’s The Firebird · Baltimore Symphony

Oct 1, 2023

Ariel Quartet with Orion Weiss, piano · Schubert Club

Jul 18, 2023

Seasons of Hope · Festival Napa Valley

27 - 29 Apr, 2023

A Sea Symphony · Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

About

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