Andris Nelsons conducts Kendall, Lee, and Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 with Paul Lewis, piano
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano
Thomas Warfield, narrator
Hannah KENDALL The Spark Catchers
James LEE III Freedom’s Genuine Dawn, for narrator and orchestra (Co-commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Music Director, through the generous support of the New Works Fund established by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.)
Intermission
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor
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
Performance Details
Oct 21, 2023, 8:00pm EDT
Featuring
Program Notes & Works
The Spark Catchers
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.
Freedom’s Genuine Dawn
Lee’s BSO co-commissioned Freedom’s Genuine Dawn for narrator and orchestra takes its text from Frederick Douglass’s 1852 abolitionist oration “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?”
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat, Opus 73, Emperor
Beethoven brought a bold and singular new voice to Western music, and there is no better example than the Emperor Concerto.
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.
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