Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2

Chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Sakari Oramo has unfortunately had to cancel his concert appearances on 8 and 10 November due to illness. He will be replaced by French Pierre Bleuse, who will be making his debut with the orchestra. Bleuse is also currently serving as guest conductor with orchestras such as the Orchestre de Paris, MDR Sinfonieorchester and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. He has previously been acclaimed for his appearances with the symphony orchestras in Toulouse and Bordeaux and performances at the opera in Lyon.

In addition to Shostakovich’s loving Piano Concerto No. 2, which was a gift to his son Maxim on his nineteenth birthday, we will hear Emmanuel Chabrier’s whimsical Bourée Fantasque, Claude Debussy’s elegant Petite Suite and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which were all in fact originally composed for piano and later arranged for orchestra.

Best known to most people is Pictures at an Exhibition, Mussorgsky’s evocative depiction of artist and friend Viktor Hartmann’s paintings, which were shown after his far too early death at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg in 1874.

As soloist in the Shostakovich Piano Concerto, we will hear Aleksandr Toradze, who specialises in romantic and Russian piano music and has been acclaimed worldwide for his lyrical tone and unlimited virtuosity.