Nathalie Stutzmann Conductor
Gil Shaham Violin
Brahms Violin Concerto
Brahms Symphony No. 1
Program Notes
Celebrated violinist Gil Shaham plays Brahms’s lyrical Violin Concerto. Composed in the serenity of an Austrian lakeside resort, the work came to life in a place Brahms found so brimming with melodies that he said you had to take care not to step on them. Brahms began his career in Beethoven’s shadow, shouldering the world’s expectations of what would come next for classical music. His answer was nothing short of extraordinary. When his First Symphony premiered, a friend and critic noted, “[audiences] will immediately recognize it as one of the most distinctive and magnificent works of the symphonic literature.”