Featured Artists
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Aaron Diehl
Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is a sonic banquet, five spectacularly different movements that come together in an overwhelmingly brilliant whole. When rehearsing for the premiere, Mahler called the work “primeval, this foaming, roaring, raging sea of sound.” The program opens with a new work by acclaimed Philadelphia-based composer Tyshawn Sorey, written for Aaron Diehl, a pianist of “melodic precision, harmonic erudition and elegant restraint” (The New York Times).
Tyshawn Sorey is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a former Opera Philadelphia composer in residence. He’s also the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, a distinction he shares with such iconic artists as Wynton Marsalis, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and others who have defined excellence from the mid-20th century forward. The Philadelplhia Orchestra will perform the world premiere of his newest work, composed for pianist Aaron Diehl, who has performed with the Orchestra on several occasions. “Diehl gracefully melds two worlds, merging the improvisational spirit of jazz with the compositional intricacies of Western classical music” (Downbeat).
Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a titanic work of expressive intensity, includes one of the most beloved pieces of music in the repertoire: the shatteringly beautiful Adagietto, often presented as a standalone piece, was famously performed by Leonard Bernstein and members of the New York Philharmonic at Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral in 1968.
Program
Sorey
Piano Concerto (world premiere—Philadelphia Orchestra commission)
Mahler
Symphony No. 5
Additional Performance Information
