With failing health and his own end on his mind, Shostakovich peppered his final symphony with references to ideas he loved, sampling his own motifs, music by beloved composers such as Rossini and Wagner, and other nods so subtle that musicologists are still discovering them over 50 years later. Guest conductor Andris Poga conducts Shostakovich’s musical retrospective. Speaking of Shostakovich’s idol Wagner, the program opens with the prelude to his opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, a tale of a momentous contest between the “master singers” of the title.  The Cleveland Plain Dealer calls violinist Simone Lamsma “polished, expressive and intense;” she joins the MSO to perform Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto, a perennial audience favorite.

How you’ll feel: exhilarated by Tchaikovsky; then haunted by Shostakovic

What to listen for:

• Shostakovich included the familiar theme from Rossini’s William Tell overture in the first movement of his final symphony.
• You’ll also hear musical quotations from Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich's own Leningrad Symphony, and more within Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15.
• For its gorgeous lyricism and astonishing technical demands, Tchaikovsky's violin concerto is one of the most famous and beloved pieces of music ever written for the instrument.