A highly distinguished pianist and the first classical performer to be granted a MacArthur Fellowship, Sir Stephen Hough’s magic is best experienced live — in these concerts, he performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, which begins cautiously but soon dives into its true warmth and urgency. Guest conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni guides this rollicking dance across … Continued

Music Director Ken-David Masur opens his phenomenal final season with a festive fanfare by Andrea Tarrodi. The celebration continues as the MSO raises a ruckus with R. Strauss’s tone poem Ein Heldenleben (“A Hero’s Life”), rife with, in the composer’s words, “lots of horns, horns being quite the thing to express heroism.” Ravel was determined … Continued

MSO First Associate Concertmaster Ilana Setapen commands the stage with Arturo Márquez’s folk-infused violin concerto Fandango. “I had known this music since I was a child,” says Márquez, “listening to it in the cinema, on the radio, and listening to my father, a mariachi violinist (Arturo Márquez, Sr.) interpret huastecos and mariachi music.” Márquez says … Continued

“When you’re named after one of the biggest constellations in the night sky, the pressure is on to display a little star power — and the young pianist Orion Weiss did exactly that,” proclaims The Washington Post; Weiss joins the MSO for piano variations by Dohnányi. Music Director Ken-David Masur conducts Mendelssohn’s Fifth Symphony, known … Continued

Grammy-nominated pianist Joyce Yang puts her “agility, balance and velocity” (The Washington Post) on full display with Tchaikovsky’s highly original First Piano Concerto; Tchaikovsky’s colleague Hans von Bülow claimed that “this true gem shall earn you the gratitude of all pianists.” MSO Assistant Conductor Ryan Tani conducts this program. The MSO Steinway piano was made … Continued

Undoubtedly one of the finest cellists performing today, Johannes Moser returns to the MSO stage to play composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Before we fall, fresh off its world premiere with the San Francisco Symphony. “Before we fall centres around the notion of teetering on the edge,” says the composer; Moser’s cello “generates the atmospheric progression of … 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

Music Director Ken-David Masur began his tenure during the 250th birthday celebration of Beethoven; we harken back to that season with the undeniable masterpiece that is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Written after Beethoven’s most profound period of despair, the Ninth is an impassioned testament to life, friendship, and the human spirit; author E.M. Forster called it … 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

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