Featured Artists
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yuja Wang
Close your eyes and feel: The delights of this program place within your grasp rich textures and brilliant colors, rhythms to drive a racing heart, and emotions to spark tears. The spectacular Yuja Wang reveals the sweeping melodies and dazzling virtuosity of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Indian American composer Reena Esmail weaves “textures that seemed like the musical equivalent of translucent silk” (The Washington Post).
A program so bright you may have to wear shades! Yannick brings all the Orchestra’s gifts to the fore in this bravura collection of masterworks, each an utter delight in its own right.
As fans who’ve witnessed Yuja Wang’s progress from her heralded emergence to mature virtuosity can attest, “her combination of technical ease, coloristic range and sheer power has always been remarkable … but these days there is an ever-greater depth to her musicianship, drawing you into the world of each composer with compelling immediacy (Financial Times). The ever-beloved Piano Concerto affords this star ample opportunity to shine, from the familiar to the tumultuous, triumphant finale.
Indian-American composer Reena Esmail has captured the audience’s imagination with works that bridge the worlds of Indian and Western music, marked by “marvelous lyricism, … superb string writing” (The Daily Gazette). Discovering this major new talent, the audience “jumped to its feet, cheering and applauding loudly” (The Daily Gazette)—and you will, too.
Program
Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 1
Esmail
Concerto for Orchestra (world premiere—Philadelphia Orchestra co-commission)
Approximate Duration
includes intermission
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