A Journey of the Soul
Wednesday, May 3 8:00 PM
Friday, May 5 2:00 PM
Saturday, May 6 8:00 PM
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Radu Lupu Piano
Sasha Cooke Mezzo-soprano
Bernstein Symphony No. 1 ("Jeremiah")
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24, K. 491
Schumann Symphony No. 2
Looking ahead to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein in 2018, Yannick conducts the great American composer’s first symphony, “Jeremiah,” based on the prophet’s lamentations “as he mourns his beloved Jerusalem, ruined, pillaged, and dishonored after his desperate efforts to save it” (Leonard Bernstein), and the young composer’s own struggles with faith. Critics extol Radu Lupu, the “enigmatic and almost willfully individualistic pianist” (The New York Times), as an artist who simply must be heard live. A leading interpreter of Mozart’s music, he performs the mesmerizing Piano Concerto No. 24, in which the composer makes full use of the orchestra. We conclude with Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, which includes “probably the most profound music Schumann ever wrote for orchestra,” says Yannick, “on the one hand very simple, but also heartbreaking in its depth and richness of harmonies.”