BBC Philharmonic - Storgårds conducts Shostakovich

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
John Storgårds conductor
Anastasia Kobekina cello

Shostakovich Festive Overture
Dvořák Cello Concerto in B minor
Shostakovich Symphony No. 10

This season, we continue our odyssey through Shostakovich’s symphonies with Chief Conductor John Storgårds, who masterfully captures both the tenderness and ferocity of the composer’s music. Tonight’s programme features Symphony No. 10, premiered after Stalin’s death in 1953. Filled with grief, rage, and manic intensity, it feels deeply autobiographical – a feeling reinforced by the composer’s musical signature, the notes D, S, C, and H, that are furiously seared into the final movements of the work.

In the first half, cellist Anastasia Kobekina performs Dvořák’s Cello Concerto – a heroic, intensely virtuosic work she has made her own.