We use cookies to enhance your experience. By continuing to browse, you agree to saving BSO and third-party cookies on your device. See our privacy policy.

BSO, Pops, Tanglewood, and Symphony Hall Logos
Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos

Andris Nelsons conducts Kendall and Beethoven Piano Concertos No. 1 and 3 with Paul Lewis, piano

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano

Hannah KENDALL The Spark Catchers
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1
Intermission
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3

Thursday evening's concert is supported by Janet and Irv Plotkin.

English pianist Paul Lewis takes us on a musical and stylistic adventure through all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos over three concerts. These performances are paired with two poetic journeys: Hannah Kendall’s The Spark Catchers, inspired by imagery from Lemn Sissay’s poem by the same name; and James Lee III’s Freedom’s Genuine Dawn, a BSO co-commission set with texts by the seminal 19th-century African American orator and activist Frederick Douglass.

Please allow additional arrival and entry time before your concert due to MBTA construction at the Symphony Green Line station. Parts of the sidewalk in front of Symphony Hall will be closed Mon-Fri 9:30am–3:30pm until further notice, however sidewalks will reopen two hours before BSO events

Paul Lewis sitting with his head resting in his left hand

Performance Details

Oct 19, 2023, 7:30pm EDT

Featuring

Program Notes & Works

The Spark Catchers

Hannah Kendall

The tingling detail in The Spark Catchers illustrates Kendall's response to a poem about women doing dangerous work in a match factory in the 1880s.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C, Opus 15

Ludwig van Beethoven

In the pattern familiar to Mozart and most composer/performers, as a soloist Beethoven needed to have a fresh concerto in his repertoire, written to strut his particular stuff.

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Opus 37

Ludwig van Beethoven

For virtuoso performer-composers like Beethoven, concertos were designed as personal showpieces.

Paul Lewis performs Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 at Tanglewood

Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos +

Experience a musical and stylistic journey as English pianist Paul Lewis performs all five of Beethoven's piano concertos over three concerts.

View All Performances
Paul Lewis sitting with his head resting in his left hand

You might also be interested in…

Getting Here

A view of the empty Symphony Hall, with the stage in the distance

Plan Your Visit