Join in the festivities as the SLSO presents Beethoven’s personal favorite—his blazing, boisterous Seventh Symphony. Pianist Joyce Yang’s interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is sure to ignite sparks of energy across Powell Hall in this spirited Thanksgiving weekend event, which also features conductor Kevin John Edusei’s SLSO debut. Yang has impressed audiences all over the globe, with reviewers applauding her “tremendous power” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) and “impeccable technique” (TheaterJones).

Beethoven’s Seventh

Powell Hall

If there is one 20th-century composer on whom everyone can agree, then Sergei Rachmaninoff has a great chance. He inspires perhaps more people today than ever before, especially his two middle piano concertos, which are high on classical music streaming lists.
Russian-Armenian pianist Eva Gevorgyan, born in 2004, will breathe new life into the romantic sounds of the second. Chief conductor Nicholas Milton will preface the concert with a contemporary work by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz – and place the symphony by another important Russian composer at the end. With "The Emergence of Personality," the subtitle of his Fifth, Dmitri Shostakovich achieved his temporary rehabilitation under Stalin in the 1930s.

Resistance

Stadthalle Göttingen

A fascinating journey through 20th-century music awaits us for this concert, which begins with the disturbing Tombeau de Nelligan by Quebec composer Jacques Hétu. Commissioned a little over 30 years ago by the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the piece pays tribute to the poet Émile Nelligan, who profoundly influenced Quebec literature.

Rachmaninov's Second Concerto

Grand Théâtre de Québec

Clemens Schuldt dedicates this concert, rich in musical impressions, to the majesty of the elements. Composed when Rachmaninov was only 20 years old, his second symphonic poem is inspired by a Russian poem that elevates The Rock to a symbol of strength and permanence in the face of life's hazards.

Sibelius's Violin Concerto

Perhaps the most gifted classical pianist of our time, Evgeny Kissin takes centre stage with two rarely-performed jewels of the piano concerto repertoire.

Admired – even venerated – as the heir of the great Russian piano tradition, Kissin has an impressive list of awards, firsts and ‘youngest-evers’ to his name, including a Grammy for his recording of Prokofiev piano concertos with the Philharmonia.

His extraordinary programme brings together two bold, brilliant piano concertos by Prokofiev and Scriabin, alongside two dramatic Russian symphonic tone poems: Rachmaninov’s evocative The Rock, and Mussorgsky’s stormy A Night on the Bare Mountain which promises to thrill audiences with its wild and terrifying Witches’ Sabbath.

Evgeny Kissin: one concert, two concertos

Southbank Centre

Juno Award winner, UNESCO Ambassador, and alumnus of The Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School, Jan Lisiecki plays Preludes by Chopin, Bach, Messiaen, and Rachmaninov.

EPSG:4326

Jan Lisiecki, piano

The Royal Conservatory of Music

Experience a sublime Five Variations of Dives and Lazarus by Vaughan Williams, take a tour of the Isle of the Dead with Rachmaninoff and hear skeletons perform the Danse Macabre with Saint-Saëns. Music of the Macabre

Hidden Creek Community Center

Some pianists just have something special, and Freddy Kempf is one of them. He’s a keyboard wizard – “virtuosity with a vengeance, with no hint of a safety net” was how Gramophone described his playing. But he’s also one of those performers who reaches out and connects with his listeners, and in the decades since his youthful triumph in BBC Young Musician, British audiences have taken him to their hearts.

Malta Philharmonic Orchestra

Cadogan Hall 

Step into a world of elegance, artistry, and pure musical magic as the legendary Renée Fleming makes her Koerner Hall debut in a spectacular gala event - the most anticipated cultural evening of the season!

For those who seek the ultimate gala experience, an exclusive pre-concert cocktail reception and exquisite dinner set the stage for an unforgettable evening. This is the only way to secure the finest seats in Koerner Hall, offering unparalleled views and an opportunity to celebrate in the company of fellow arts patrons - all in support of The Royal Conservatory’s mission to develop human potential through leadership in music and the arts.

An Intimate Evening with Renée Fleming

Mieczysław Weinberg lost his family in the concentration camps. Fifty years later, he composed Symphony No. 21 in memory of the Holocaust victims from his hometown, Warsaw. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conducts the symphony along with Suite No. 4 from The Golden Key. Marie-Ange Nguci is the piano soloist in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla Marie-Ange Nguci

Oslo Concert Hall

Passionate, luxurious, melodic, yet dark and brooding — Rachmaninov wrote the very definition of Romantic music and he'll be featured throughout our season. Music Director Xian Zhang conducts two of his defining works in this program. She is joined by the dazzling young virtuoso Alexander Malofeev, who, after wowing Seattle in his 2023 debut, returns to take on Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, written after the composer had established himself in America. Then we turn to Rachmaninov’s epic Second Symphony, one of the greatest emotional journeys in all music. Australian composer Melissa Douglas has created a soundscape of the germination of springtime in her Awaken, which opens the concert.

Xian Conducts Rachmaninov

Benaroya Hall

Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin is one of the world's most accomplished pianists: 'right now there is no one like him,’ says The New Yorker.

Marc-André Hamelin in Recital

City Recital Hall

Get ready to “Rach.” Our season kicks off with a trio of rich melodies and vivacious energy. The swashbuckling high seas adventure of Korngold’s The Sea Hawk is filled with cinematic flair. Guest pianist and Maestro Tim’s college BFF, Corey Hamm, shows off the dynamic brilliance of Barber’s Piano Concerto. We finish with Rachmaninov’s powerful and expressive Symphony No. 2 for an unforgettable performance you simply can’t miss.

Masterworks I

Paramount Theatre Iowa

The University of Iowa School of Music - Voxman Building

Philadelphia Orchestra Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin returns to Saratoga to lead two unique programs that can only be heard at SPAC.

Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, & Still

Saratoga Spa State Park

Desire, brutality and the supernatural are shaken together in the orchestral kaleidoscope of Bartók’s ballet The Miraculous Mandarin. Josep Pons conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the last of Bartók’s three great music-theatre scores, an electrifying fusion of folk music and modernism. Angular brilliance gives way to exotic, Impressionistic colours in Dukas’s exotic ‘danced poem’ La Péri. ‘Remarkable’ Italian pianist Beatrice Rana is the soloist in Rachmaninov’s thrilling Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Rachmaninov’s ‘Paganini’ Variations

Royal Albert Hall

Winner of the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition and recipient of the Dame Fanny Waterman Gold Medal, 25-year-old Canadian pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko has been celebrated by audiences, critics, and composers alike for his communicative power, refined technical command, and artistic maturity. Do not miss this virtuoso’s riveting program of piano masterpieces! 

TSM presents Jaeden Izik-Dzurko

At the end of the season, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra with chief conductor Alain Altinoglu will once again be appearing at the Festival International de Colmar with three concerts. Alain Altinoglu has been the artistic director of the traditional festival in Alsace since 2023. In the church of Saint-Matthieu, he and his orchestra, this time with cellist Gautier Capuçon and pianist Alexander Malofeev as well as hr solo trumpeter Sebastian Berner, will present works by Stravinsky, Escaich and Dvořák, Rachmaninoff and Rimsky-Korsakov as well as Brahms and Haydn.

International Festival of Colmar 1

Église Saint-Matthieu

Resplendent Romantics

Concordia University Chicago

The Emmy and GRAMMY Award-winning New Jersey Symphony is redefining what it means to be a nationally leading, relevant orchestra in the 21st century. The Symphony is renewing its deeply rooted commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion by championing new, and often local, artists; engaging audiences for whom the inspiring depth and breadth of classical music will be a new experience; and incorporating the broadest possible representation in all aspects of our organization-all to better reflect and serve our vibrant communities.

New Jersey Symphony: Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich

Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC)

An event organized by the Cultural Office of the municipality of Unterföhring in the Unterföhring Community Center.

Visit Unterföhring

Bürgerhaus Unterföhring

Eschenbach, Melnikov · Dvořák, Rachmaninoff

Wiener Konzerthaus

Lehninger’s roots in Brazil are reflected in his choice of the Ronaldo Miranda’s Temporal Variations. We then move to one of the greatest of the variation structures, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. That is one of the great compositions of the classical music literature, played exquisitely by our superb soloist for this performance, Natasha Paremksi. The program will conclude with another great work, the Symphony No. 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven. This is a dynamic symphony, and Beethoven understood it to be one of his best compositions. It will leave you excited and happy to hear one of the great pieces in the classical canon. We bring the season to a close with the last program echoing the first program, binding the season into a musically integrated whole.

Variation & Virtuosity

Symphony Hall, Springfield

This symphony concert marks the second time that the Stuttgart State Orchestra has invited its partner orchestra, the Baden-Württemberg State Youth Orchestra, to a joint concert in the Liederhalle. At the first concert on Sunday 27 April, the State Youth Orchestra will perform together with musicians of the Staatsorchester Stuttgart and british conductor Kerem Hasan Ludwig van Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3. Pianist Alexander Melnikov, who has already performed in renowned concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall and Toppan Hall in Tokyo, will then interpret Sergei Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini.

5. Symphony Concert

Beethoven Hall (Beethovensaal)

Ravishing Rachmaninov Ascend

Northern Virginia Community College

The first woman to conduct London’s Last Night of the Proms and to serve as the head of a major orchestra in Britain, the United States, South America and Austria, Marin Alsop is one of the most powerful and inspiring conductors of our time. We are lucky enough to witness Marin conduct as the Philharmonia’s Principal Guest Conductor in this wonderful concert full of iconic music.

Philharmonia Orchestra: Marin Alsop & Jeneba Kanneh-Mason

Marlowe Theatre

In pursuit of their degrees at SFCM, each student presents a recital that represents their artistry and craft. Student Recitals feature repertoire curated by students with guidance from their faculty instructor. 

Erika Cho, viola - First Year Master's Recital

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Romantic Reflections

McAllen Performing Arts Center

Imagine...an intoxicating combination of Eastern and Western traditions creates musical magic, conjured by Indian musical royalty

Stravinsky's The Firebird in Aberdeen

Music Hall

When different musical cultures meet, a new kind of harmony is born. “Mesmerising” was how one critic described the new Triple Concerto by Zakir Hussain when Alpesh Chauhan conducted its first British performances in 2023, and today the composer himself is among the soloists in a piece which, he says, tells a tale of love, tradition and the transforming power of art. It’s perfect for Chauhan, a conductor with a real flair for finding the heart and soul of a piece of music, and he follows it with two dark fairytales from Romantic Russia – Rachmaninov’s surprisingly passionate journey into night, and Stravinsky’s exhilarating Firebird. Those glowing melodies, those dazzling cascades of colour…they’ll burn even more brightly tonight.

Zakir Hussain's Triple Concerto

Glasgow City Hall

Back by popular demand, American pianist Garrick Ohlsson is known worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess.  Join us for what promises to be a masterful performance of Rachmaninoff’s most celebrated, intensely impassioned Second Piano Concerto composed during the turn of the century.  “Melody is the music and the foundation of all music,” said Rachmaninoff. During one of his tours in the United States, he noted what still holds true today, “These Americans cannot get enough of it.”   

Garrick Ohlsson, piano

Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Clemens Schuldt conducts the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at Hanley this evening with Simon Callaghan as soloist in Rachmaninov's second Piano Concerto.

Wagner, Rachmaninov and Beethoven at Victoria Hall, Hanley

Victoria Hall in Stoke-on-Trent

Galicia Symphony Orchestra - Lukas Sternath - Elim Chan - Concert in Ferrol

Ferrol Auditorium

Opera Palace of A Coruña

Holst's magnificent masterpiece headlines an evening of classics, featuring Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Planets

‘One of the finest living pianists’, suggested Gramophone, while a disc in Jonathan Plowright’s collected Brahms series made it into the same publication’s choice of the 50 Greatest Recordings of the composer. BBC Music Magazine, meanwhile, thought that in the Op. 21 No. 1 Variations, ‘Plowright's refined pianism really comes into its own’.

Jonathan Plowright piano

Wigmore Hall

Currently completing his postgraduate studies, the prize-winning Lithuanian pianist has been selected as a 2024 scholar of the Imogen Cooper Music Trust, as well as of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. This programme features movements from Rameau’s Suite in G – including character pieces depicting ‘The Hen’, ‘The Enharmonic’ and ‘The Egyptian’ – alongside Rachmaninov’s First Piano Sonata, composed in 1908 in Dresden.

Kasparas Mikužis piano

Established in 1988 by Ralph Kirshbaum in memory of the great cellist Pierre Fournier, this international award aims to assist exceptional young cellists. Selected finalists take part in live auditions over two days in front of our distinguished panel of judges. American cellist Annie Jacobs-Perkins is our 2023 Winner.

Annie Jacobs-Perkins cello; Dina Ivanova piano

The brothers forming the Dutch piano duo return with a programme for four hands, including a collection of pieces by Jörg Widmann of which they gave the complete première earlier in 2024 and which borrow Schumann’s title (‘Coloured Leaves’) for one of his own piano collections.

Arthur Jussen and Lucas Jussen piano duo

Birmingham - England Tour

The International Convention Centre

Korean-American Pianist Minju Choi Witte is the guest soloist as the Elkhart County Symphony presents Slavic Masterworks, Nov. 17, at The Lerner Theatre in Elkhart. The dynamic and delightful repertoire includes Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2 in c minor, Op. 18; Guest Soloist, Minju Choi Witte; and Dvorak, Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88. Choi Witte has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, and chamber musician. She has appeared as a soloist with the Indianapolis and Shreveport Symphonies, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, the Music Academy of the West, and Juilliard Orchestras.

Slavic Masterworks

The Lerner Theatre 

Glinka Rakhmaninov Tschaikowsky

Jiangsu Center for the Performing Arts Nanjing

We would like to thank our two project partners BMW and Rödl & Partner from Nuremberg for their financial support of our England tour.

Nottingham - England Tour

Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall

The 3rd Symphony Concert: Automatic was originally planned as a concert in our more than music series , which expands the boundaries of the traditional concert experience through performance. The program included a joint world premiere by composers Marko Nikodijević and Robert Henke - a concert for automatic percussion and orchestra. The two popular and experimental composers like to explore the dream of an automated life in their music. In real life, however, not everything always runs automatically, let alone according to plan - for organizational reasons, this world premiere in our concert unfortunately has to be canceled. Instead, we will hear another work by Marko Nikodijević that premiered just over a year ago: Gospodi vozvah for solo viola and orchestra. We are delighted that we were able to persuade Canadian violist Sarah McElravy to rehearse the work at short notice and thus welcome her to our concert stage for the first time. The viola concerto is accompanied by Sergei Rachmaninoff's symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead and excerpts from Peter Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker . As if in a dream, The Isle of the Dead

3rd Symphony Concerto: Automatic

Opernplatz

Tschaikowsky Rakhmaninov Rimskij-Korsakow

ARK Hills

In a frenetic world where there never seems time 'to stop and stare', this evening of song celebrates the art of contemplation and what it means to be alive. Drawing inspiration from the poetry of the Romantics to the present day the programme will reflect 'On Man, On Nature and On Human Life'.

Samling Artists

Get ready to be swept off your feet as we invite you to an unforgettable evening filled with the sweet serenades of love and the poignant melodies of longing! The RSO is thrilled to present a concert that promises to resonate with your heartstrings and leave you humming with joy.

Romantic Rachmaninoff

Jefferson Center

Glinka Rakhmaninov Rimskij-Korsakow

Cologne Philharmonie

Cité de la Musique

Pianist Zee Zee, violinist Esther Yoo and cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan met on the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists’ scheme in 2015 and have gone on to form an ensemble whose name is an acronym for the artists’ initials. The 1952 trio by Armenian composer Arno Babadjanian (1921-83) is widely regarded as a major work for the medium.

Z.E.N. Trio

Explore the mysteries of love and the cosmos with New World Symphony. Conductor Xian Zhang brings out the pain and pleasure of Tristan and Isolde, Richard Wagner’s medieval romance. Alexander Malofeev, a 22-year-old Russian genius and phenom pianist, takes on one of the best-loved works by Sergei Rachmaninoff (Corriere della Sera). Journey through our solar system as 87 of the world’s best young musicians bring new energy to Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

The Planets + Rachmaninoff

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

The famous Caprice No. 24 by the devilish violinist Paganini is considered one of the most difficult pieces for solo violin. Sergei Rachmaninov took the theme of the Caprice and composed devilishly difficult variations for piano and orchestra. It's a good thing that a pianistic devil of a guy, the young French pianist Alexandre Kantorov, is taking to the keys for this piece. For his suite "Scheherazade", Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was inspired by the fairy tales with which the wise Scheherazade appeases the vengeful Sultan in One Thousand and One Nights. The storyteller, played by the solo violin, is accompanied on her journey through the Arabian fairy tale world by Tugan Sokhiev at the conductor's desk and moderator Malte Arkona.

1. Youth Concert

Gasteig HP8

Within just a few years, the French pianist Alexandre Kantorow has developed into one of the most exciting artistic personalities of the younger generation. Since his debut with the Munich Philharmonic in November 2021, he has had a remarkable career; now he is returning with the virtuoso "Paganini Rhapsody" by Sergei Rachmaninov. Kantorow's technical skills are intimidating even for some of his colleagues. This makes him the ideal soloist for this work, the technical demands of which even made the piano virtuoso Rachmaninov's hands flutter before each performance. A magnificent polonaise opens the third act of Tchaikovsky's opera "Eugene Onegin" and, in passing, provides the musical surface portrait of the Russian aristocracy in the 19th century. In his suite "Scheherazade", Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wanders through the oriental fairy-tale world of "From a Thousand and One Nights". Masterfully orchestrated, it is not only a fantastic narrative cast in sound, but also a showpiece for the orchestra and its soloists.

Alte Oper

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Rachmaninov 2

Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture

Now fully established equally as a soloist, collaborative pianist and a curator, ‘one of the most admired pianists of his generation’ (in the words of the New York Times) has received universal acclaim for his ‘uncommon sensitivity’ (The New Yorker), ‘impeccable musicality and phrasing’ (Le Figaro) and his stature as ‘a true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative’ (The Evening Standard).

Inon Barnatan piano

Manhattan School of Music’s public programs are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

MSM Symphony Orchestra

Manhattan School of Music

The Italian-Dutch pianist won the Salzburg International Mozart Competition in 2016 and the following year made her debut at Vienna’s Musikverein. Of her recording of Liszt’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, BBC Music Magazine wrote: ‘Giorgini’s affinity with this reflective music is evident from the outset … Her shaping of climaxes demonstrates complete control of pace and dynamics’.

Saskia Giorgini piano

8th “Armenia” International Music Festival

Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall

Autumn Classics: Anchorage Subscription Concert 3 - Natasha Paremski In Recital

Fine Arts Building

Maestro Joseph Young kicks off the 40th Anniversary Season as he takes the stage for his first appearance as guest conductor with National Philharmonic. Young balances a flourishing career with roles as Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony and Artistic Director of Ensembles at the Peabody Conservatory. His performances are such an experience, one audience member during his performance of Rhapsody in Blue said, “I don’t want to leave this room, because I don’t want to leave this feeling.”  (The Daily Californian).

Rachmaninoff Festival

Strathmore

Anna-Maria Helsing leads the BBC Concert Orchestra in a celebration of local Nottingham hero Robin Hood, featuring works by Doreen Carwithen, Korngold, Sibelius and Rachmaninov – plus a world premiere from local composer Elizabeth Kelly.

Proms Nottingham: Music of Sherwood Forest

Since winning the prestigious Chopin International Piano Competition in 2010, Yulianna Avdeeva has built an illustrious career as one of the most convincing and sensitive pianists of her generation. Tonight, she joins the Philharmonia
in arguably the most popular concerto in history. Composed as Rachmaninov recovered from years of depression and writer’s block, his Second Piano Concerto is a passionate outpouring of creativity and is packed with more memorable melodies than many composers write in a lifetime.

Merano: Yulianna Avdeeva plays Rachmaninov

Kurhaus, Meran

Ascona: Daniele Rustioni and Yulianna Avdeeva Philharmonia

Church San Francesco Locarno

We will play immortal melodies with the Gorzów Philharmonic Orchestra outdoors, which have long since delighted more than just classical music fans. Melodies such as the introduction to Richard Strauss' "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", which became world famous as film music ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), Wagner's stormy Ride of the Valkyries, probably Johann Strauss's most famous waltz, and Rossini's gripping "William Tell" overture. The evening will open with Peter Tchaikovsky's Fantasy in G major for piano and orchestra with Katerina Titova on the grand piano.

final concert "Classics without Borders"

“My heartfelt homage to Tchaikovsky’s wonderful talent”. Audiences in the 1920s were astonished when the modernist firebrand Stravinsky started adapting Tchaikovsky. In fact, Stravinsky adored Tchaikovsky’s music, and his ballet The Fairy’s Kiss puts Tchaikovsky’s music under a very modern – but utterly captivating – spell. But then, under the baton of our Chief Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth, there’s wonder in every note of this ravishing concert.

Hough Plays Rachmaninov in Aberdeen

“My heartfelt homage to Tchaikovsky’s wonderful talent”. Audiences in the 1920s were astonished when the modernist firebrand Stravinsky started adapting Tchaikovsky. In fact, Stravinsky adored Tchaikovsky’s music, and his ballet The Fairy’s Kiss puts Tchaikovsky’s music under a very modern – but utterly captivating – spell. But then, under the baton of our Chief Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth, there’s wonder in every note of this ravishing concert. You’d expect no less, when the phenomenal pianist Stephen Hough works his very personal alchemy on Rachmaninov’s hugely-popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. But the music of Hans Abrahamsen’s fairy-tale opera The Snow Queen might be a little less familiar. Believe us – it’s pure enchantment.

Hough Plays Rachmaninov

City Halls

2024/25 Season November Concert

Victoria Hall

The Legend of Harmony - Family Concert

A piano plays a chord in the silence, and a chain of sound grows, swells, and breaks into passionate, endless song. No question, the great Romantic composers knew how to unleash emotion: whether it’s Tchaikovsky diving into the whirlwind of a doomed love or Puccini creating melodies to melt the heart. Or, indeed, Rachmaninov uniting a glittering piano and a sumptuous orchestra in an concerto that could have been written for soloist Boris Giltburg. “Every note pulses with life and warmth” was how one critic described his playing, and the same could be said when guest conductor Ludovic Morlot shares Roxanna Panufnik’s vivid new versions of Alma Mahler’s lovely, neglected songs.

Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2 in Inverness

Eden Court Inverness

A piano plays a chord in the silence, and a chain of sound grows, swells, and breaks into passionate, endless song. No question, the great Romantic composers knew how to unleash emotion: whether it’s Tchaikovsky diving into the whirlwind of a doomed love or Puccini creating melodies to melt the heart. Or, indeed, Rachmaninov uniting a glittering piano and a sumptuous orchestra in a concerto that could have been written for our soloist, Boris Giltburg. “Every note pulses with life and warmth” was how one critic described his playing, and the same could be said when guest conductor Ludovic Morlot shares Roxanna Panufnik’s vivid new versions of Alma Mahler’s neglected love songs.

Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2

The world's best piano concert? In Rachmaninov's grandiose Piano Concerto No. 2, the listener is thrown into a rushing sea of ​​emotions of breakneck virtuosity and catchy melodies to a degree that time and again excites audiences around the world. At the piano sits the star pianist Denis Kozhukhin under the direction of Christoph Gedschold – Copenhagen Phil's future new chief conductor!

Sibelius and Rachmaninov

Konservatoriets Koncertsal

Conductor Karina Canellakis, renowned for delivering emotionally charged performances, takes on feats of musical storytelling in this narrative programme. Excerpts from Richard Wagner’s influential opera Tristan und Isolde capture two lovers at the beginning and end of their doomed love affair. Alexander Scriabin’s symphonic Poème de l’extase, or Poem of Ecstasy, is an immersive experience of delicately layered melodic motif



Edinburgh International Festival: Closing Concert

The Usher Hall

With luscious shifting harmonies and the rhythmic vitality characteristic of his later style, Rachmaninov’s final complete composition, his Symphonic Dances, uses motifs derived from Russian Church music alongside quotes from his own first symphony

Symphonic Dances

St David’s Dewi Sant

Brangwyn Hall

The concert will be an exploration of the westward migration of Eastern European composers to Los Angeles for work in the film industry, coupled with the delight and buoyancy of Gabriela Montero’s classical improvisations for which she is famous, this time accompanying Charlie Chaplin’s film The Immigrant.

Gabriela Montero, piano

The Hamburg State Orchestra's Philharmonic Concerts become ZeitSpielen and transcend the boundaries of the ordinary: In this concert, the fruits of Mikhail Pletnev's inspirations will be heard - for his new composition based on Rachmaninov's music will be juxtaposed with the original orchestral fantasy The Rock.

5th Philharmonic Concert RACHMANINOW / PLETNEV

Elbphilharmonie

In our 5th Philharmonic Concert, Sergei Rachmaninoff's orchestral fantasy "The Rock" will be juxtaposed with a new composition by Mikhail Pletnev. The contemporary composer doesn't want to reveal his sources of inspiration, leaving it up to the listeners to discover for themselves "what the music most suggests to them." This opens up new perspectives on our musical culture and the way we perceive music.

5th Philharmonic Concert

When three teenagers formed a piano trio in 2013, they were still students and performed under the name "Trio Chagall." More than ten years later, the three friends from Turin have become a professional trio, playing with Italian passion and now appearing as "rising stars" in Europe's prestigious concert halls. As their career progressed, a new name was needed: Inspired by Michelangelo, they called themselves "Trio Concept," with the vision of carving out the beauty of a work like a sculpture from a block of marble.

Trio Concept

Conductor Nicolas Ellis returns to the VSO to lead Rachmaninoff’s beloved Variations on a Theme of Paganini, poignantly interpreted by pianist Joyce Yang, known for her “vivid and beautiful playing” (The New York Times). Inspired by Danté’s Divine Comedy, Tchaikovsky’s retelling of Francesca da Rimini overflows with passion and tragedy. Mel Bonis’s musical tribute to women of legend presents compelling portraits of Cleopatra, Ophelia and Salome.

Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninoff

Centennial Theatre

Sullivan Heights Secondary School

Orpheum

Hilary Hahn is one of the top violinists of our time, with three Grammy awards to her name and a devoted fan base who will travel hundreds of miles to hear her live.  

She joins the Philharmonia for Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2. Lyrical, long-breathed melodies fill the first two movements. But the violin’s singing lines are tinged with darkness, and give way to a stumbling dance in the finale. 

Santtu and Hilary Hahn

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.

Sergey Rachmaninov

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 18, 2026

Gabriela Montero, piano · The Royal Conservatory of Music

18 - 19 Jan, 2026

5th Philharmonic Concert RACHMANINOW / PLETNEV · Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

18 - 19 Jan, 2026

5th Philharmonic Concert · Staatsoper Hamburg

Jan 23, 2026

Trio Concept · Elbphilharmonie

23 - 25 Jan, 2026

Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninoff · Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Past events

Nov 29, 2025

Beethoven’s Seventh · St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Nov 28, 2025

Resistance · Göttinger Symphonieorchester

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