Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2

• Adams: Chamber Symphony
• +Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2, B-flat major
• Schumann: Symphony No. 4, D minor

Portland favorite Kirill Gerstein plays Beethoven, music that’s serious and tuneful. Schumann’s music blurs the boundaries of traditional symphonic form. And there’s also fun, with a quirky Adams piece inspired in part by TV cartoons.

The Classical Symphony

• Haydn: Symphony No. 97, C major
• Prokofiev: Classical Symphony

Haydn’s symphonies were sophisticated musical entertainment, wise and spirited, comfortable, but always full of small surprises. In a much more modern age, Prokofiev wrote his own classical symphony, and showed that Haydn’s wit and style were far from dead.

Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2

• Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
• Barber: Souvenirs
• +Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2, A major
• Bizet: Symphony in C
• Liszt: Les Préludes

All these pieces are music you’ll remember: Liszt for his grandeur, Copland for his nobility and Bizet because he’s so playful. But the Barber work is a special gem, a nostalgic visit to the dance floors of long ago.

Bela Fleck & The Flecktones

The Grammy-Award winning Flecktones return to Portland, showcasing their eclectic blend of bluegrass, fusion and jazz. Add your Oregon Symphony for an evening of virtuoso musicianship and improvisational mastery.

Presenting sponsor: Portland Jazz Festival

Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony

Shostakovich was denounced by the Soviet rulers, who said he wasn’t a good enough communist. In response,he wrote his Fifth Symphony, which seems to finish with triumphant celebration of the communist regime. But Shostakovich put a hidden meaning in the piece. The music, as he later said, depicted forced celebration—the empty shouts of somebody who doesn’t believe in what he’s cheering for.

Tchaikovsky's Fourth

• Sibelius: En Saga (A Saga)
• +Stravinsky: Violin Concerto, D major
• Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4, F minor

Sibelius takes you to a brooding inner landscape, a land of journeys and epic struggle. Stravinsky takes you back in time, with his modern take on Bach. And Tchaikovsky takes you to the center of his soul.

Women in Blues

Three sultry and soulful divas groove with the joyful ache and blissful sorrow that only the blues can capture. These blues divas bring voices that are powerful, feisty and proud, singing the best classic and contemporary blues, such as “Bucktown,” “Crawfishin’” and “Louisiana 1927.”
Please note: Oregon Symphony does not perform.

Classical Elegance

• J.C. Bach: Symphony, Op. 18, No. 1 for 2 orchestras
• Martinu: The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 2, D major
• Wagner: Overture to Tannhäuser

You’ll feel the sensual heat of Wagner. Along with it you get the elegance of J.C. Bach, Beethoven in a cheerful mood, and symphonic evocations of Renaissance art.

Mozart Clarinet Concerto

• Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion & Celeste
• +Mozart: Clarinet Concerto, A major
• Strauss: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier

Bartók sounds vivid and lean. Mozart is warm and gracious, glowing with quiet depth. Strauss beams with every sound in the orchestral rainbow. Where else could you hear colors like this?

Sponsored by: Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt

A Sentimental Journey with Norman Leyden

Laureate Associate Conductor Norman Leyden returns to the stage with his clarinet in hand to conduct a dazzling program of dearly loved pops standards. Joined by some of your favorite pops soloists, Norman revisits the unforgettable songs of Broadway and Hollywood, with music of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein and more.

Mahler Symphony No. 9

• Mahler: Symphony No. 9, D major

There isn’t much music that can move you like Mahler’s Ninth. It takes you to a deep and distant place, where emotions reach their peak. Is this the end of the world, or the beginning of a new one? You decide.

Sponsored by: The Oregonian

Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony

Music by a madman? That’s what many people thought when this symphony was new. But now we’re swept away by its rhythms and its melodies, and most of all by its excitement, which starts at the beginning and doesn’t let up until the end.

Carmina Burana

• Messiaen: The Ascension (L’Ascension)
• Orff: Carmina burana

What could link these two pieces, one a meditation on God, the other wild and lusty? Carmina burana blazes with intoxicating heat, and Messiaen’s meditations have a blazing color of their own.

Sponsored by: The Oregonian