“I realized that my job is to awaken possibility in others.”

Mozart, Brahms, and Bartok

Event
Share

Date & Time Thu, October 17 8pm - 20 3pm, 2019

MOZART 
Overture to The Magic Flute

BRAHMS
Piano Concerto No. 2

BARTOK
Concerto for Orchestra

BENJAMIN ZANDER, CONDUCTOR

ALESSANDRO DELJAVAN, PIANO

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Everything we do at the Boston Philharmonic is aimed at giving our patrons spellbinding and unrepeatable experiences of great music. Our recipe varies from program to program, but it usually involves a mix of the familiar and the yet-to-be-discovered. You can count on hearing soloists with whom I have established a special connection. And in many cases, they are artists who are entirely unknown to Boston audiences.

A friend recently insisted that I listen to Alessandro Deljavan, a pianist of Persian and Italian extraction living in Italy. After spending hours listening to the 24 (!) CD’s he sent—ranging from Scarlatti to Scriabin to the complete piano music of Reynaldo Hahn, each rendered with tremendous artistry—

I knew I had to bring this remarkable musician to Boston. But what concerto from his vast repertoire should we perform? I felt mastery such as his called for the king of piano concertos, the Brahms Second, which demands profound musicianship, power, command, free spirit, warmth, and poetry.

These are the same qualities required to perform Bartok’s ultimate test of virtuosity, the Concerto for Orchestra. Brahms and Bartok, though vastly different make wonderful companions on a concert program. And both are works very close to my heart. The evening begins with the enchanting overture to that most enchanting of Mozart operas, The Magic Flute. -Benjamin Zander

Read more about the season

Read in the Boston Musical Intelligencer: BPO Introduces Italian Pianist in BPC2 by Richard Dyer

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Overture to The Magic Flute -7 minutes

Johannes Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 -46 minutes

“Deljavan’s performance was revelatory in every respect. Everyone in the hall knew that they were hearing something special—something wonderful—from the very first notes. At the end, the spontaneous eruption of cheers was so different from the perfunctory ovation that any decent performance is awarded, that being a part of the thrilled crowd was a unique experience in itself.” —Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, Theater Jones

Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra – 36 minutes