July’s NSO Showcase features Mozart’s Serenata notturna, spotlighting many of the NSO’s principal players—Nurit Bar-Josef, Marissa Regni, Daniel Foster, Robert Oppelt and Jauvon Gilliam. Early music specialist Ton Koopman conducts. Also on the program, Krzysztof Urbánski conducts Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, with pianist Lise de la Salle. The concert ends with Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, led by John Storgårds.
Show Notes
Program
Mozart: Serenade No.6 in D Major K.239, Serenata notturna
Ton Koopman, conductor
Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, Op.21
Lise de la Salle, piano, Krzysztof Urbánski, conductor
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.5 in E minor, Op.64
John Storgårds, conductor
Reflections by Nicole Lacroix
Mozart wrote his Serenata Notturna in 1776, so it’s the perfect opening to our July NSO Showcase airing soon after Independence Day. This highly entertaining music spotlights many of the NSO’s principal players including—violinists Nurit Bar-Josef and Marissa Regni, violist Daniel Foster, bass Robert Oppelt, and Jauvon Gilliam on timpani. Early music specialist Ton Koopman conducts.
The electrifying young Polish conductor, Krzysztof Urbánski next leads the NSO in Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. “A lot of conductors are called rock stars,” wrote The Washington Post, “but with Krzysztof Urbánski , the label fits.” The young French pianist Lise de la Salle gives a mesmerizing performance.
Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture is a fixture of July celebrations, but this concert will feature his weightier exploration of the role of fate in human life, the Symphony No.5. Finnish conductor John Storgårds conducts, and NSO principal horn Abel Pereira soars in the famous second movement horn solo.
Like the 1812 Overture, the 5th Symphony has historical associations: in October, 1941, while the bombs were literally “bursting in air,” the Leningrad Radio Orchestra defiantly played this Symphony and broadcast the concert to London.
July’s NSO Showcase is the final program of the season. We’ll return in the Fall with an exciting new lineup of National Symphony Orchestra concerts.