Kristjan Järvi conducts the London Symphony Orchestra with Shostakovich Violin Concerto No 1 with Midori

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Thursday 26 February 2009, 7.30pm, Barbican

BERNSTEIN Overture: Candide
BERNSTEIN ARR. HARMON Candide Suite
SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No 1
BRAHMS Symphony No 4

Kristjan Järvi conductor
Midori violin

Since the first concert performance of the Candide Overture in January 1957 under the composer’s baton with the New York Philharmonic, the piece has become one of the most frequently performed orchestral compositions by a 20th century American composer. The Candide Suite, arranged by Charlie Harmon, was premiered in January 1999 and gives listeners the chance to hear many of the operetta’s themes in this shorter, instrumental version. Completed in 1948, Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto had to wait until the death of Stalin, seven years later, before it was allowed public performance. Tightly structured and fearsomely challenging for the soloist, it is a deeply personal work. Brahms’s fourth and final symphony is highly concentrated – cerebral but also searching and dramatic. Beginning in a melancholy opening theme, it develops towards a searing finale, which has been described as ‘a veritable orgy of destruction.’

Kristjan JärviThe Estonian-born Kristjan Järvi (pictured) is renowned as one of the most exciting conductors on the international stage and has been hailed by the New York Times as a “kinetic force on the podium”. Järvi is Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Vienna, and New York’s celebrated Absolute Ensemble. As a Guest Conductor Järvi has performed with the LSO, and also with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Berlin Radio Symphony, Orchestre National de France and Royal Scottish National orchestras.

In the 2008-2009 season, violinist Midori will play in over 90 worldwide performances, expand her commitment to community engagement, devote time to her various roles at the prestigious University of Southern California, and explore new territory that fans, students, and media alike have come to expect from this brilliant and multi-faceted artist. Midori continues to devote a substantial amount of time to several community-directed initiatives she has established to address an issue she believes to be of crucial and ever-growing importance: access. She feels passionately that people must have access to a variety of great music, regardless of their age, race, social class, geographic location, or financial means. In 2007 Midori was designated an official U.N. Messenger of Peace by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who cited her community engagement work as a model of exemplary commitment to worldwide goals shared by the U.N.

Tickets to Barbican concerts: £7 - £32
Secure online booking at lso.co.uk (£1.50 booking fee)
Box office: 020 7638 8891 open 9am – 8pm Mon-Sat, 11am – 8pm Sun (£2.50 booking fee)
In person at the Advance Box Office in the Barbican centre
(Mon-Sat 9am – 9pm; Sun 12pm – 9pm)

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