Guest conductor Katharina Wincor leads Shostakovich’s mischievous first symphony. Penned when he was a conservatory student, it launched the composer’s career and remains one of his most celebrated contributions to music. Pianist Polina Osetinskaya also takes center stage with Robert Schumann’s beautifully lyrical piano concerto, illuminating the work’s poetic intimacy and exhilarating brilliance. What to … Continued

“Music is Life, and like it, it is inextinguishable.” Composer Carl Nielsen penned these words across the top of the score of his fourth symphony, now best known as “The Inextinguishable” — the fourth sets out to “express what we understand by the spirit of life or manifestations of life, that is: everything that moves, … Continued

MSO Concertmaster Jinwoo Lee steps into the spotlight to perform Saint-Saëns’s third violin concerto, a veritable showpiece for the instrument’s sparkling character and color. Conductor Iván López Reynoso, who made his U.S. orchestral debut with the MSO, returns to conduct Rachmaninoff’s second symphony, rife with deliciously heartbreaking tunes and romantic melancholy. What to Expect: Rachmaninoff’s … Continued

Handel’s Messiah is among the most revered oratorios of all time — and in the hands of conductor and 18th century interpreter Nicholas McGegan, it is simply sublime. “When it comes to conveying the vital spark of Handel’s music, Mr. McGegan has few peers,” claims The New York Times; The Independent calls McGegan “one of … Continued

“[Clara] signals my gratitude to all the women who, in their time, challenged the society they were raised in by manifesting their artistic oeuvre,” says composer Ortiz of her tribute to Clara Schumann, which opens this program. Violinist Nancy Zhou takes center stage for Clara Schumann’s Three Romances, which The Times (London) referred to as … Continued

Kerson Leong, a violinist who speaks “with sincerity and without exaggeration” (The Strad), performs Beethoven’s beloved violin concerto; Beethoven changed the genre with this innovative and lyrical concerto, which leaves ample space for the violinist to dazzle. The MSO welcomes leading 18th century expert Bernard Labadie to conduct one of the era’s finest gems: Haydn’s … Continued

Hailed as one of the greatest violinists of our time, Augustin Hadelich returns to the MSO to perform Mendelssohn’s soulful violin concerto. Music Director Ken-David Masur conducts Brahms’s third symphony, a nostalgic work with a recurring musical theme of “free but happy;” wrote Clara Schumann, “All the movements seem to be of one piece, one … Continued

Jader Bignamini, Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, conducts a suite from Stravinsky’s The Firebird; the music of this fairytale ballet, including its scintillating “Infernal Dance,” still feels fresh and wild. Stravinsky learned a great deal from his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov; here the MSO explores the latter’s Spanish-accented Capriccio espagnol, from its first alborada (morning … Continued

“My chief aim was to awaken and permanently instill spiritual feelings not only in the singers but in the listeners,” said Beethoven of his immense and moving Missa solemnis (“Solemn Mass”). Observing the structure of a traditional Catholic mass, Missa solemnis is a vibrant paean to faith but also to humanity. This concert concludes Music … Continued

“Paul Jacobs is one of the great living virtuosos … he is utterly without artifice,” declares The Washington Post. Witness the musicianship of the first and only organist to win a Grammy Award as Jacobs performs Saint-Saëns’s “Organ” symphony, a work so expressive the composer claimed, “I have given all that I had to give.” … Continued