Piano Concerto Festival: Celebrating Christian Zacharias
“[Zacharias is] among my favorite living musicians. He’s a pianist of ideas. I always learn something important about the compositions he performs, about the composers whose works he’s playing, about music as such, from the way he plays.”
– The New Yorker
Join the SPCO and Christian Zacharias for this 3-week festival celebrating the Artistic Partnership of one of the great pianists and musicians of our time. Through three distinct programs, Zacharias leads the SPCO in exploration of masterpieces from the Baroque and Classical eras, as well as delving into works from award-winning contemporary composers Thierry Escaich and Grażnya Bacewicz. On each program, Zacharias will play a piano concerto by three of the most prolific composers of the genre, Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Zacharias and the SPCO in the Ordway Concert Hall during these final performances of his Artistic Partnership!
Tickets start at just $10
Hear past performances of Christian Zacharias with the SPCO in our online Listening Library.
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4
Friday, April 29, 8:00pm
Saturday, April 30, 8:00pm
Ordway Concert Hall, Saint Paul
Sunday, May 1, 2:00pm
Ted Mann Concert Hall, Minneapolis
C.P.E. Bach: Sinfonia in G, Wq. 180
Escaich: Baroque Song
C.P.E. Bach: Sinfonia in F, Wq. 181
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Christian Zacharias, conductor and piano
To celebrate his final season as an SPCO Artistic Partner, conductor and pianist Christian Zacharias joins the orchestra for three consecutive weeks of performances. The first week of curated programs combines the Baroque and Classical eras with a touch of modernism, featuring works by C.P.E. Bach, Beethoven, and contemporary French composer Thierry Escaich.
Haydn, Gluck and Mozart
Friday, May 6, 10:30am
Friday, May 6, 8:00pm
Saturday, May 7, 8:00pm
Ordway Concert Hall, Saint Paul
Haydn: Symphony No. 84
Gluck: Selections from Orfeo ed Euridice
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 9, Jeunehomme
Christian Zacharias, conductor and piano
Christian Zacharias’s Artistic Partnership with the SPCO has always been anchored by his absolute mastery of Mozart piano concertos and Haydn symphonies and two great examples of these works bookend this program. Zacharias has also selected a suite of gorgeous instrumental and vocal selections from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice to fill out this program of Viennese masterpieces.
Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto
Friday, May 13, 8:00pm
Saturday, May 14, 8:00pm
Sunday, May 15, 2:00pm
Ordway Concert Hall, Saint Paul
Bacewicz: Concerto for Strings
Haydn: Symphony No. 82, The Bear
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2
Christian Zacharias, conductor and piano
This program kicks off with the SPCO’s first performance of the award-winning Polish composer Grażnya Bacewicz’s virtuosic Concerto for Strings. Haydn’s Symphony No. 82, The Bear, earned its nickname because the fourth movement was reminiscent to early audiences of the music to which dancing bears would perform, with its bass drone underpinning topsy-turvy melodic lines. Christian Zacharias closes the program and his tenure as an Artistic Partner with a performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
Hear Christian Zacharias on collaborating with the SPCO in the 2012-2013 season.