Ravel and Shostakovich

Please note the program change for this performance. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos will perform Karol Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 2 in place of Osvaldo Golijov's Violin Concerto.

La Valse is one of the greatest orchestral showpieces ever written. A master of orchestration, Ravel begins with an innocent waltz that builds to a raucous climax, only to come crashing down at the end in spectacular fashion. Shostakovich, equally brilliant in his use of the orchestra, composed some of his most profound - and politically subversive - music in his Fifth Symphony.