Sunday, March 30, 2025 This concert provides, among other things, a portrait of the brilliant American clarinetist and composer David Krakauer, who moves easily between the worlds of classical music and klezmer. He  appears with the PSO for the first time. Conductor Anna Handler, newly appointed an assistant conductor at the Boston Symphony, also makes… Read More

Wolfgang Amadè Mozart Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A major K. 622 Wolfgang Amadè Mozart (he never used “Amadeus” except when making a joke) was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756 and died in Vienna in 1791. He composed this concerto in November of 1791, and it was likely performed soon thereafter with Anton… Read More

Tuesday, March 4, 2025 Beloved Maine pianist Diane Walsh makes a long-awaited return to the PSO with Beethoven’s most serene piano concerto, the 4th, in G Major, Opus 58. Pre-pandemic, she performed Clara Schumann’s youthful piano concerto with conductor Ruth Reinhardt in March 2019, and Chopin’s second concerto with Robert Moody in January 2017. Mexican… Read More

Gabriela Ortiz Kauyumari Gabriela Ortiz was born in 1964 in Mexico City, Mexico. She continues to live in Mexico. Kauyumari was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and first performed by that orchestra with its music director Gustavo Dudamel on October 9, 2021 at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles. The work is scored for… Read More

Friday, January 24, 2025 Sunday, January 26, 2025     Is there a more famous or beloved opera than Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece La bohème? After a somewhat hesitant audience reception at its premiere in Turin in 1896, led by the great Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, it has gone on to be performed everywhere. Bohème is listed… Read More

Giacomo Puccini     La bohème     Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy on December 22, 1858, and died in Brussels, Belgium on November 29, 1924 La bohèmewas first heard on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio in Torino (Turin), Italy with Arturo Toscanini on the podium. It is scored for 2 flutes, piccolo,… Read More

Sunday, November 10, 2024 As we continue the PSO’s centennial celebration, this program brings to our attention the brilliant principal players of the orchestra.  Variaciones concertantes by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) was written at a time when the composer’s conflict with the Perón régime caused him great hardship. Friends in other parts of the… Read More

Alberto Ginastera Variaciones concertantes, Op. 23 Alberto Ginastera was born in 1916 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and died in 1983 in Geneva, Switzerland. He composed this work in 1953 on a commission from the Asociación Amigos de la Música in Buenos Aires, and it was first performed in that city the same year under the… Read More