ABOUT THE PROGRAM

We will end the season with Mahler’s transcendent Fifth Symphony, the quintessential journey from darkness to light, which puts an orchestra at the limit of expression. What an undertaking for a group of young musicians at the beginning of their musical journey!

We are thrilled that Zlatomir Fung is available to return as a soloist. His rapturous playing of the Elgar concerto and his all-embracing personality endeared him to every member of the orchestra, as well as the audiences throughout our tour of Greece in 2022. We cannot wait to join him in Symphony Hall for Schumann’s Cello Concerto, his final major orchestral work, written before his early death in an asylum. Its moods are intimate, soulful, and confessional, almost like chamber music, and its three connected movements are like one long-drawn breath of lyricism that virtually cries out for Zlatomir’s subtlety and communicative power.

-Benjamin Zander

MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAM

• Zlatomir Fung has been praised by the Benicia Herald: “The cellist showed a mastery of his instrument that was truly a thing to behold… He executed his pure talent, maneuvering the strings with exquisite control as he created his own musical mosaic.” and Oberon’s Grove added, “Mr. Fung displayed clean, warmly resonant tone, a gift for dynamic finesse, and a depth of feeling that seemed remarkable in one so young.”
• Zlatomir Fung’s 2022 performance with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra received a rave review from Boston Classical Review:
  “The 22-year-old Fung is a thoroughly engaging musician. His tone is rich, projection assured, facility flawless. Moreover, in the Elgar, Fung displayed a maturity beyond his years, illuminating the score’s peculiar blend of nostalgia, playfulness, and sorrow with unfailing naturalness and ease. He articulated the concerto’s solo part with burnished elegance, especially in the wistful first movement and soaring Adagio. Yet there was an expressive depth to Fung’s interpretation, too: phrasings were flexible and the musical line moved at what seemed just the right pace. Ultimately, the whole piece unfolded with rhapsodic fervor.”
• Zlatomir Fung joined the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra on the 2022 Tour to Greece. 
• Watch Zlatomir Fung rehearsing his final encore with cellists of the BPYO in Greece.