Shake off the end-of-winter doldrums with this evening of sunny melodies and toe-tapping mischief. Hold on to your hats as the nimble fingers of soloist Boris Giltburg dance their way through Shostakovich’s cheeky Piano Concerto No. 2. Giltburg’s 2017 recording of the concerto won rave reviews for its “dashing virtuosity” and “reckless, to-hell-with-it abandon.” End the evening on a bucolic note with Brahms’s Pastoral Symphony, a piece once described as “all rippling streams, blue sky, sunshine, and cool green shadows.”

This concert opens with the world premiere performance of Vivian Fung’s Earworms.

“Earworms features snippets of some of the best, most insistent, and most annoying of these tunes and combines them into a playful and quirky arrangement. These include phrases from Ravel’s La Valse and my son’s favourite, Wheels on the Bus, to which he has listened every day ad nauseam for the past six months.”

-Vivian Fung

*World premiere; NAC Orchestra commission. 

The Friends of the NAC Orchestra are pleased to hold a spectacular silent auction on March 22 and 23 in the Southam Hall Foyer in conjunction with this NAC Orchestra concert. Bid on outstanding and unique donated items from across Canada and from around the world. Proceeds benefit the Friends of the NAC Orchestra’s commitment to music education programs for young people. Help us build a fantastic future for music in Canada!