Program
Rachmaninoff The Isle of the Dead
Lutosławski Concerto for Orchestra
Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1
Artists, programs, and dates are subject to change.
This concert is currently only available as part of a subscription package. Single tickets will go on sale June 15, 2026.
Violin superstar Midori brings her “simply magical” (Houston Chronicle) talent to appear with the PSO for the first time. Since her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11, Midori has captured audiences with her intensity and technical prowess. Here she brings her extraordinary talent to perform Shostakovich’s herculean Violin Concerto No. 1, emotionally sweeping and symphonic in its scope and composition.
Showcasing the PSO at its most vibrant and virtuosic is Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra. Blending folk color with dazzling orchestral writing, keen-eared listeners might notice an homage to Shostakovich’s violin concerto hidden within the concerto—a sympathetic allusion to the artistic restrictions they both composed under.
Opening the program, and the PSO’s multi-year exploration of Rachmaninoff is the tone poem, The Isle of the Dead, a darkly evocative work inspired by the haunting atmosphere of a painting depicting a small boat arriving at a desolate island.
