We open our season with “Pixie,” a spritely, delicious treat by Trey Makler, VSO’s Composer in Residence. We are excited to introduce Trey to you and honored to present the premiere of this new work. Next, Pianist Jared Redmond plays the first of three luscious piano concertos scheduled for this year: the Piano Concerto in F-Sharp Minor by Alexander Scriabin, a contemporary and classmate of Rachmaninoff. Scriabin’s concerto combines the passionate technique of Rachmaninoff with the grandeur and finesse of Chopin in a rapturous tour-de-force that will sweep you off your feet. Beethoven’s innovative Symphony No. 5 anchors the program. Its magisterial four-note theme has been described as “the sound of Fate knocking on the door.” The winds of revolutionary fervor blow through this early 19th-century work, in which Beethoven broke new ground that would transform the world of music forever. 

We open our season with “Pixie,” a spritely, delicious treat by Trey Makler, VSO’s Composer in Residence. We are excited to introduce Trey to you and honored to present the premiere of this new work. Next, Pianist Jared Redmond plays the first of three luscious piano concertos scheduled for this year: the Piano Concerto in F-Sharp Minor by Alexander Scriabin, a contemporary and classmate of Rachmaninoff. Scriabin’s concerto combines the passionate technique of Rachmaninoff with the grandeur and finesse of Chopin in a rapturous tour-de-force that will sweep you off your feet. Beethoven’s innovative Symphony No. 5 anchors the program. Its magisterial four-note theme has been described as “the sound of Fate knocking on the door.” The winds of revolutionary fervor blow through this early 19th-century work, in which Beethoven broke new ground that would transform the world of music forever. 

Ruth Crawford Seeger, ultramodernist composer and matriarch of the folk-revival Seeger family, composed in radically different styles. Music for Small Orchestra came from her early, avant-garde period, while “Rissolty Rossolty,” a crazy-quilt polyphony of three folk tunes, was composed as a whimsical tribute to the never-ending energy of folk music. David Fung, who performed with VSO in 2018 to great acclaim, returns to play Tchaikovsky’s tempestuous Piano Concerto No. 1. The melody from this concerto’s iconic opening became a huge hit when transformed into the love song “Tonight We Love,” but the rest of this audacious early work is even more compelling, as it alternates between dreamy passion and quick passages of dazzling difficulty. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 shows the master at the height of his powers—transporting us from a pastoral beginning through wry humor, high tragedy, and triumph. 

Ruth Crawford Seeger, ultramodernist composer and matriarch of the folk-revival Seeger family, composed in radically different styles. Music for Small Orchestra came from her early, avant-garde period, while “Rissolty Rossolty,” a crazy-quilt polyphony of three folk tunes, was composed as a whimsical tribute to the never-ending energy of folk music. David Fung, who performed with VSO in 2018 to great acclaim, returns to play Tchaikovsky’s tempestuous Piano Concerto No. 1. The melody from this concerto’s iconic opening became a huge hit when transformed into the love song “Tonight We Love,” but the rest of this audacious early work is even more compelling, as it alternates between dreamy passion and quick passages of dazzling difficulty. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 shows the master at the height of his powers—transporting us from a pastoral beginning through wry humor, high tragedy, and triumph. 

Our “Pastoral” concert opens with Caroline Shaw’s astonishing “Entr’acte.” You’ll listen spellbound as Shaw, the youngest composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in music, compresses time and stretches it out again—taking us, in her words, “behind the looking-glass.” From its dramatic opening statement to the fiery thrills of its close, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 delivers a virtuoso punch tempered by lush lyricism. Jeffrey LaDeur will perform this striking concerto with all the power and nuance it deserves. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the only one of his symphonies to depict a story, takes the listener for a Sunday walk in the countryside, with bucolic melodies and birdcalls that set a pastoral scene, a country dance led by an out-of-time brass band, an unexpected thunderstorm, and a hymn of thanksgiving. 

Our “Pastoral” concert opens with Caroline Shaw’s astonishing “Entr’acte.” You’ll listen spellbound as Shaw, the youngest composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in music, compresses time and stretches it out again—taking us, in her words, “behind the looking-glass.” From its dramatic opening statement to the fiery thrills of its close, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 delivers a virtuoso punch tempered by lush lyricism. Jeffrey LaDeur will perform this striking concerto with all the power and nuance it deserves. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the only one of his symphonies to depict a story, takes the listener for a Sunday walk in the countryside, with bucolic melodies and birdcalls that set a pastoral scene, a country dance led by an out-of-time brass band, an unexpected thunderstorm, and a hymn of thanksgiving.