Momentum

We begin with Michael Stern making his MSO debut as guest conductor leading Jonathan Leshnoff’s Rush for Orchestra, a driving and exciting work that builds a tremendous amount of energy throughout. Garrick Ohlsson, an audience and orchestra favorite, makes his eighth appearance with us performing Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, a romantic masterpiece infused with the spirit of his Norwegian homeland. Dmitri Shostakovich’s powerful Symphony No. 5, which he humbly described as “the practical answer of a Soviet artist to justified criticism” in a subtle and bitter reaction to the Russia of Joseph Stalin, brings this concert to a close.

Michael Stern, Guest Conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, Piano