Shostakovich 5
Daniel Meyer conductor
Andrew Tyson piano
Ravel Alborada del gracioso
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
On opening night, the Erie Philharmonic is back in full splendor with a program of music revealing the virtuosity and sonic power of our own musicians. French composer Maurice Ravel wrote stunning works originally for piano, and later created orchestral versions of those same pieces with a whole new array of colors and textures. Alborada del Gracioso is one such work, with a scintillating evocation of a Spanish morning, replete with strumming guitars and clicking castanets.
We then welcome young American pianist Andrew Tyson as he makes his Erie debut in Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. A work designed as a calling-card for the young, ambitious composer himself, this C Major concerto has all the style and charm of his idols Mozart and Haydn, but already captures the bold and energetic creativity that would distinguish Beethoven and make him the legend we celebrate today.
Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony weaves a tale of sorrow and triumph, despair and hope, and confidence in the face of fear. After a wave of personal success in Moscow, Shostakovich was shockingly denounced in the Soviet state newspaper and was forced to rehabilitate his reputation (and perhaps save his own artistic life!) in this epic, searing ‘creative response to justified criticism.’
Andrew Tyson, piano
Hailed by BBC Radio 3 as “a real poet of the piano,” American pianist Andrew Tyson is emerging as a distinctive and important new musical voice. In summer 2015, he was awarded First Prize at the Géza Anda Competition in Zürich, as well as the Mozart and Audience Prizes. These victories have resulted in numerous performances throughout Europe under the auspices of the Géza Anda Foundation.
Tyson is also a laureate of the Leeds International Piano Competition where he won the new Terence Judd-Hallé Orchestra Prize, awarded by the orchestra and conductor Sir Mark Elder with whom he enjoys an ongoing relationship. With concerto performances taking him across North America, Europe and further afield, Tyson has performed with orchestras from the North Carolina Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall, to the Osaka Symphony, SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, Musikkollegium Winterthur and the National Orchestra of Belgium. Highlights this season include a return to the Hallé and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras as well as his debut with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra.
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