Rachmaninov and Saint-Saëns

Since winning the famous Chopin Competition in 2015, South Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho has been one of the most in-demand soloists in the world. At this concert, he performs Saint-Saëns’ colourful Piano Concerto No. 5. Saint-Saëns himself remarked that this piece is reminiscent of a voyage on the sea. The concerto was composed in Luxor and because of those influences, it is often referred to as The Egyptian. 

We also hear Rachmaninoff’s very last work: Symphonic Dances, in which he dreams of the Russia of his childhood. In addition, we hear American Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw’s dreamy and imaginative Entr’acte – music inspired by a string quartet by Joseph Haydn. Caroline Shaw describes how some music can transport the listener to another world, like the minuets of Haydn’s op. 77, “in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolour transition,” she says.

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is led by award-winning American conductor Ryan Bancroft, who is chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra as of this season.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft