Shostakovich Five

The evening

In Stalin’s Russia, music really was a matter of life and death. Written under political oppression, Shostakovich gambled everything on his Fifth Symphony, and when it was first played, the audience wept – and then cheered. Make no mistake, this is a musical thriller with a devastating emotional punch, and tonight Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Hahn sets the scene with another Cold War classic, Schnittke’s haunting Viola Concerto, with the brilliant Lawrence Power as soloist. Expect shadows, secrets and some powerful surprises.