La Pathétique de Tchaïkovski

A moving romantic evening awaits us for the opening concert of this new season, under the baton of our music director Clemens Schuldt. Bruce Liu, the first prize winner at the 2021 Chopin International Piano Competition, is the first of four Quebec pianists we are welcoming this year, kicking off the "square of aces" at the age of 27, with an already impressive career. The theme of "life" opens the festivities: Dvořák made it the subject of his Carnival Overture, the second part of a trilogy preceded by "nature" and followed by "love." These themes are echoed in Prokofiev's most popular piano concerto, composed in Brittany and premiered in Chicago a little over a hundred years ago. Russian inspiration meets the fervor of the Roaring Twenties in an outburst of virtuosity, lyricism, and imagination, contrasted by Tchaikovsky's famous Pathétique Symphony. One can imagine the poignant atmosphere during the creation of this landmark of Romanticism, both heartbreaking and exalted, in the middle of winter in the assembly hall of the lords of Saint Petersburg, a few decades before the fall of the Tsarist Empire!

Clemens Schuldt: conductor

Bruce Liu: piano

Program for September 18, 2024

Dvořák: Carnival Overture

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathétique"