Check out Sarasota Orchestra’s Concert Companion to our second Masterworks concert of the season (Beethoven's Seventh, December 6-7, 2024, at Church of the Palms)! In this must-listen episode, cellist Chizuko "Cheeko" Matsusaka takes listeners on a fascinating journey, linking Carlos Simon, Brahms, Beethoven, Homer's Iliad, and symbols of human perseverance through some of history's darkest times. Cheeko also details her musical history with guest conductor Peter Oundjian and eavesdropping on Yefim Bronfman in the practice room at the Aspen Music Festival. Learn more about the robust concert program that features the GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist making his Sarasota Orchestra debut as soloist in Brahms' monumental Piano Concerto No. 1.

Tickets are available online at SarasotaOrchestra.org! 

Music in this episode:
"The Kiss of the Earth: Introduction" from The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky (arrangement for piano four hands)
Marc-André Hamelin and Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
From the album The Rite of Spring & other works for two pianos four hands, released February 2018 (Hyperion)

Symphony No. 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Bramwell Tovey, conductor
Sarasota Orchestra
Recorded live at the Sarasota Opera House, October 30, 2021

Fate Now Conquers by Carlos Simon
Carter Brey, cello
Jaap van Zweden, conductor
New York Philharmonic 
Recorded live at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, July 23, 2021

Piano Concerto No. 1 by Johannes Brahms
Roman Rabinovich, piano
Anu Tali, conductor
Sarasota Orchestra
Recorded live at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, January 2018