Beethoven’s Fifth with Eschenbach

Christoph Eschenbach - Conductor
Alisa Weilerstein - Cello

Program
Weber - Overture to Der Freischütz
Schumann - Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129
INTERMISSION
Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

“There is no question that his whole heart is in what he's doing,” says the Washington Post of Christoph Eschenbach, and that heart will be on full display when our former music director returns to lead the Philadelphians. Cello virtuoso Alisa Weilerstein (“truly a phenomenon”—The Telegraph) brings her incredible musicality to bear on Schumann's Cello Concerto. Never performed during the composer's lifetime, this intensely personal work now lives in the pantheon of cello compositions. From its indelible four-note opening to the rousing finale, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony never fails to enthrall. Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter) was a triumph for Carl Maria von Weber; the Overture alone makes clear why the work inspired composers from Wagner to Berlioz.