BSO & Andris Nelsons Welcome Violinist Hilary Hahn & Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet

BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra podium in January to lead the world premiere of the BSO co-commission Short Stories from the Vienna Woods by Viennese composer HK Gruber and the U.S. premiere of Augusta Read Thomas' Dance Foldings-and is joined by superstar soloists Hilary Hahn, violin, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano, in concertos by Mozart and Liszt, respectively.

Program Details-BSO Concerts, January 6 and 8 at 8 p.m.; January 7 at 1:30 p.m.
Andris Nelsons leads a world premiere of the Viennese composer HK Gruber's Short Stories from the Vienna Woods, a BSO co-commission with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. This orchestral score is a suite of music from the composer's opera Tales from the Vienna Woods, based on the socially critical play of the same name by Ödön von Horváth. The title's reference to the famous Strauss waltz mirrors the wide-ranging popular and classical variety of Gruber's music.

Though he would later be the embodiment of the Viennese Classical composer, Wolfgang Amadè Mozart was still living in Salzburg when he wrote all five of his violin concertos. Acclaimed American violinist Hilary Hahn plays Mozart's Concerto No. 5, from 1775, which in addition to its energy and elegance is notable for its unusual finale, featuring the surprising "Turkish" episode that gives the concerto its nickname.

The BSO under Serge Koussevitzky gave the American premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in 1945. Written in 1944, the symphony looks beyond the turmoil of World War II to celebrate the nobility of the human spirit.

Program Details-BSO Concerts, January 13 and 15 at 8 p.m.; January 14 at 1:30 p.m.; and January 16 at 3 p.m.

Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the BSO and a frequent collaborator, the French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, in the passionate and virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 2 by Franz Liszt-who himself was considered the most brilliant performer of the 19th-century Romantic era. These concerts open with the American premiere of Augusta Read Thomas' Dance Foldings, which Thomas describes as "like jazz big band with Stravinsky ballets." Closing the program is Ludwig van Beethoven's Fourth Symphony, one of the composer's sunniest and most congenial works.

(Please note that the originally scheduled soloist for this program, pianist Mitsuko Uchida, was forced to withdraw from these concerts due to a recent back injury. Also originally scheduled for these BSO performances, Julia Adolphe's new commissioned work, Makeshift Castle, will instead be premiered at Tanglewood in July 2022.)

The program will be available as a BSO NOW livestream on Saturday, January 15 at 8 p.m., and for video-on-demand viewing from January 27-February 26. For more information or to purchase a BSO NOW pass, please go to bso.org/bso-now.

NEW: Please note that as of January 6, the season pass price for BSO NOW access is reduced to $50 for the remainder of season (through the April 21 release which expires on May 21). Donors and subscribers will still receive 15% off ($42.50). As an added bonus, all new $50 pass holders will also be able to access the Holiday Pops video-on-demand.

COVID-19 pandemic protocols for Symphony Hall performances and events are available at bso.org/safety.

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