The final concert of the season includes Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini featuring Italian pianist Beatrice Rana, whose playing is noted by The London Times as having "a kind of Orphic seductiveness, a transcendent lightness of touch.” The rhapsody has a historical connection to the region, as it was premiered by Rachmaninoff himself at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore. Closing the program, James Conlon leads the orchestra in a moving performance of Shostakovich’s dramatic “Leningrad” Symphony in which dueling brass sections represent the competing armies during the siege of Leningrad.

Artists
James Conlon, conductor
Beatrice Rana, piano

Repertoire
WYNTON MARSALIS Fanfare (BSO Co-Commission)
RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 7, “Leningrad”