BSO Artistic Partner Thomas Adès returns for a concert featuring the world premiere of his own second piano concerto, commissioned by the BSO and composed for Kirill Gerstein, a frequent collaborator. Mr. Adès also leads the orchestra in two Romantic-era scores. Franz Liszt's Mephisto Waltz depicts a scene from Nicolaus Lenau's 1836 poem Faust in which Mephistopheles plays demonically on a fiddle during a wedding. Tchaikovsky's emotionally intense and magnificently orchestrated Fourth Symphony, completed in 1878, represents the culmination of a traumatic period in the composer's life.

Liszt, Adès and Tchaikovsky- Written by Robert Kirzinger, Richard Dyer and Marc Mandel, narrated by Eleanor McGourty

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The Latvian violinist Baiba Skride joins her compatriot Andris Nelsons and the BSO for the world premiere of Grawemeyer Award-winning composer Sebastian Currier's "Aether" for violin and orchestra, a work co-commissioned by the BSO and the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig. Two unpredictable musical rogues bookend the new work: "Till Eulenspiegel", who in Strauss's tone poem thumbs his nose at the establishment, rides his horse through a market, and comes to no good end; and Stravinsky's puppet-come-to-life "Petrushka", whose attempts to win the admiration of a ballerina come to naught. In his second full ballet score for the Ballets Russes, two years before "The Rite of Spring", Stravinsky's astonishing musical depictions of a Russian Shrovetide fair further cemented the reputation of the young composer of "The Firebird".

Strauss, Currier and Stravinsky- Written by Robert Kirzinger and Richard Dyer, narrated by Eleanor McGourty

Stravinsky's puppet-come-to-life "Petrushka", whose attempts to win the admiration of a ballerina come to naught. In his second full ballet score for the Ballets Russes, two years before "The Rite of Spring", Stravinsky's astonishing musical depictions of a Russian Shrovetide fair further cemented the reputation of the young composer of "The Firebird". Video by Anthony Princiotti.

VIDEO - Stravinsky's "Petrushka" Video Podcast

BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons speaks with Brian Bell about the Shostakovich Symphony No. 15, being performed on April 25-30, 2019.

Interview: Andris Nelsons chats with Brian Bell

A brief look at Richard Strauss' tone poem "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks". Video by Anthony Princiotti.

VIDEO - Strauss's "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" Video Promo

A preview of Stravinsky's puppet-come-to-life "Petrushka". Video by Anthony Princiotti.

Liszt, Adès and Tchaikovsky- Written by Robert Kirzinger, Richard Dyer and Marc Mandel, narrated by Eleanor McGourty

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