Opening this concert is the thrilling Overture to Verdi's La Forza del Destino, dramatically contrasting the constrictive-ness of Fate with the expansiveness of Love. One of the best-known and most beloved concert works, Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World") reflects the composer's visit to the American heartland, his love of American literature, and a profound reverence for Black spirituals. Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which some consider to be the single most influential composition to be written in the entire 20th century, "changed everything," as Mr. Zander puts it. Its power to amaze, shock, and thrill has never waned.

EPSG:4326

Verdi / Dvorak / Stravinsky Concert

Boston Symphony Hall

The BPYO performed Mahler’s troubled, turbulent Sixth Symphony some years ago, and the brilliance and emotional depth of that performance is preserved in a spectacular commercial recording of the event. It is truly hard to believe that a youth orchestra—ANY youth orchestra—could plumb the turbulent depths of this great symphony—and yet they will do it again. You won't want to miss this!

Mahler Symphony No. 6 Concert

Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, is—to only a slightly lesser degree than The Rite of Spring—a work that revolutionized music around the beginning of the 20th century, with its gossamer textures, subtle voluptuousness and elusive harmonies. Sixty-seven years ago Walton's Cello Concerto premiered in Symphony Hall with the legendary cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. BPYO alum Leland Ko, recent first prize winner of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) Competition, will bring it home again, with his richly lyrical tone and virtuosic flair. Maestro Zander says of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, "It overflows with love. From its first notes, emotion-drenched themes well up in an unstoppable flood, all clothed in Rachmaninoff's most gorgeous orchestration."

Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra

Mar 2, 2025

Mahler Symphony No. 6 Concert

May 1, 2025

Debussy / Walton / Rachmaninoff

Nov 3, 2024

Verdi / Dvorak / Stravinsky Concert

Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra