Rising star Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the first cellist in history to reach the top 10 of the UK album charts, joins the MSO for Shostakovich’s dark and stormy Second Cello Concerto.
Anne Boyd is an eminent composer and academic whose research focuses on the influence of Asian music and culture on Australian composers. At the Rising of the Sun features bright sonorities and delicately layered textures of wind instruments.
Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto debuted at a gala concert celebrating the composer’s sixtieth birthday. Written for long-time friend and collaborator Mstislav Rostropovich, the piece is an atmospheric and moody departure from his first cello concerto. Shostakovich reflected that it could be dubbed his “Fourteenth Symphony with a solo cello part.”
Dvořák wrote his Ninth Symphony as a fresh arrival in New York, having just started as Director of the newly-formed National Conservatory of Music. Inspired by the soul of African American spirituals, Dvořák aimed to embody its character in orchestral form.
Running Time1 hour 50 minutes (inc. 1 x 20 minute interval)