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- Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain
- PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
- PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, "Pathétique"
- ≈ 2 hours · With intermission
In recognition and thanks for invaluable donor support, the NAC Orchestra and NAC Dance grants insider access to donors to audit a working rehearsal in Southam Hall. Often, an artist or member of the artistic team gives insights into the creative process and invites questions from donors. Seating is limited.
In her North American debut, Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska takes the NAC Orchestra through a night of exceptional music, beginning with Modest Mussorgsky’s delightfully sinister Night on Bald Mountain, instantly recognizable from Walt Disney’s classic Fantasia –and a perfect way to start your Halloween!
Hailing from Victoria, BC, guest violinist Timothy Chooi made his first NAC appearance in 2012 as part of the “My First NAC” Showcase Concert series featuring Canada’s star musicians of tomorrow. As a protégé of NAC Orchestra former music director Pinchas Zukerman, Chooi has since won a wide range of violin competitions worldwide. Tonight he performs the passionate Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.
In a devastating twist of fate, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted the first public performance of his final symphony just nine days before his death. His Symphony No. 6, nicknamed the “Pathetique,” (meaning passionate, rather than pitiful) is arguably one of the most heartbreaking and romantic musical compositions ever written. Yet far from feeling dejected as he wrote it, Tchaikovsky believed it to be the best of his works, exploring as it did the stubborn and beautiful persistence of life before it fades away. Explaining to his brother that “I love it as I have never loved any of my other musical offspring,” Tchaikovsky revelled in this emotional work, which freed him from the populism of his most well-known creation, The Nutcracker, and allowed him the free expression he hadn’t experienced in years.
Performance is approximately 2 hours including intermission
