PROGRAM FEATURES SAINT-SAËNS PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2, HONEGGER’S PASTORALE D’ÉTÉ, AND
STRAVINSKY’S PETRUSHKA

Nov. 12 at 10:30 a.m. (Open Rehearsal), Nov. 12 at 8 p.m., and Nov. 14 at 8 p.m.

In concerts November 12 and 14, the dynamic Italian conductor Fabio Luisi, chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony and the Staatskapelle Dresden, and acclaimed 21-year-old French pianist Lise de la Salle make their Boston Symphony Orchestra debuts in the first of three programs showcasing the orchestra’s long history with great music from the French tradition. Ms. de la Salle is featured in Saint-Saëns’s elegant and virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 2. The program also includes the lyrical Pastorale d’été of Swiss-French composer Arthur Honegger and Stravinsky’s landmark Petrushka (1947 version), which helped cement Stravinsky’s reputation as the most important and exciting composer of the day when the work was premiered in Paris by the Ballets Russes in 1911. The November 14 concert is sponsored by the EMC Corporation.

A member of the loosely associated group of Paris-based composers dubbed Les Six in the 1920s, Arthur Honegger (1892-1955) was born of Swiss parents. Initially drawn to chronicling the energy and rhythms of the modern age, he gradually moved toward more absolute music. The lyrical Pastorale d’été (“Summer Pastorale”) written in 1920, is a short, atmospheric tone poem for strings, woodwinds and French horn.
Of Saint-Saëns’s five piano concertos, the Piano Concerto No. 2 has emerged as the most popular and enduring, though it wasn’t particularly well received by French audiences at its premiere in 1868. The composer had written the work in three weeks time for a special concert with Anton Rubinstein, and there hadn’t been ample time for proper practice and rehearsal. (Saint-Saëns played the solo himself, with Rubinstein conducting.) Virtuosic and elegant, it unfurls with mercurial shifts in style, prompting a noted pianist at the work’s premiere to remark that it began with Bach and ended with Offenbach.

Petrushka, composed in 1910-11, is the second of three landmark ballet scores commissioned from Stravinsky by the great impresario Sergei Diaghilev for his legendary Ballets Russes. (The other two are the The Firebird and The Rite of Spring.) Like The Firebird, Petrushka draws from Russian folk melodies, but the composer’s neo-classic style begins to jump into sharper relief, and the work’s colorful orchestration and rhythmic invention pave the way for the more radical The Rite of Spring. Petrushka, set at a Shrovetide fair in St. Petersburg, tells the story of puppets who come to life, fed by love, lust, and revenge. The 1947 version played here features a smaller orchestra than the original 1911 ballet score and a greater role for the orchestral piano.

FABIO LUISI
Considered one of the most versatile conductors of his generation, Italian conductor Fabio Luisi is a frequent guest at the world’s great classical venues. With a command of both operas and orchestral music, he is also chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony, music director of the Opernhaus Zurich, and principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden. Other recent posts include the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (1997-2002) and the MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig (1999-2007). A pianist since the age of four, Mr. Luisi first began conducting while working as a vocal accompanist for opera in Graz, where he made his conducting debut in 1984. In 1987, he made debut conducting appearances at the state operas in Berlin, Munich and Vienna – three houses where he has subsequently enjoyed close relationships, conducting numerous premieres and production revivals. Since 2005, he has become a favorite at the Metropolitan Opera as well. In addition to the standard operatic repertoire (Wagner, Verdi, Puccini and Strauss), Mr. Luisi is particularly dedicated to performing the symphonic music of Mahler and Strauss as well as contemporary music. He and the Staatskapelle are currently recording a complete new cycle of Richard Strauss’s orchestral works for Sony Music. Mr. Luisi has been awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Arts and Sciences and the “Cavaliere Ufficiale” order of the Italian Republic.

LISE DE LA SALLE
21-year-old French pianist Lise de la Salle has emerged as one of the most acclaimed artists of her generation, praised for inspired performances of virtuosity and depth. The Washington Post wrote, “For much of the concert, the audience had to remember to breathe...the exhilaration didn't let up for a second until her hands came off the keyboard.” Ms. de la Salle began playing piano at the age of four and gave her first concert at nine in a live broadcast on Radio-France. At 13, she made her concerto debut with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in Avignon and her Paris recital debut at the Louvre before going on tour with the Orchestre National d’Île de France. In addition to her debut with the BSO, Ms. de la Salle’s 2009-2010 season includes her first subscription concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic with James Conlon, with whom she also appeared at the Aspen and Ravinia Festivals, as well as her debut in the fabled Musikverein with the Vienna Symphony.  In this and recent seasons, Ms. de la Salle's appearances include recitals in Paris, London (Wigmore Hall), Lucerne Festival Piano Series, Stuttgart, Copenhagen, Luxemburg, Salzburg, and the Verbier Festival, as well as engagements with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra and  the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. She has numerous awards and prizes to her credit, and her recordings have garnered significant notice. Just last year, she won her second Gramophone “Recording of the Month” for her CD of the first concertos of Liszt, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for the regular-season Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, as well as Friday afternoons, are priced from $29 to $105; concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons are priced from $30 to $115. Open rehearsal tickets are priced at $19 each (general admission). Tickets may be purchased by phone through SymphonyCharge (617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200), online through the BSO’s website (www.bso.org), or in person at the Symphony Hall Box Office (301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston). There is a $5.50 service fee for all tickets purchased online or by phone through SymphonyCharge.
American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club, and Discover, as well as personal checks (in person or by mail) and cash (in person only) are all accepted at the Symphony Hall Box Office. A limited number of rush tickets for Boston Symphony Orchestra subscription concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons are set aside to be sold on the day of a performance. These tickets are sold at $9 each, one to a customer, at the Symphony Hall Box Office on Fridays beginning at 10 a.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning at 5 p.m. Gift certificates are available in any amount and may be used toward the purchase of tickets (subject to availability) to any Boston Symphony Orchestra or Boston Pops performance at Symphony Hall or Tanglewood. Gift certificates may also be used at the Symphony Shop to purchase merchandise.
Patrons with disabilities can access Symphony Hall through the Massachusetts Avenue lobby or the Cohen Wing on Huntington Avenue. An access service center, accessible restrooms, and elevators are available inside the Cohen Wing entrance. For ticket information, call the Disability Services Information Line at 617-638-9431 or TDD/TTY 617-638-9289.

PRE-CONCERT TALKS
The Boston Symphony Orchestra offers 30-minute Pre-Concert Talks in Symphony Hall before all BSO subscription concerts, beginning at 6:45 p.m. prior to the 8 p.m. evening concerts and at 12:15 p.m. prior to Friday-afternoon concerts. Open Rehearsal Talks begin one hour before the start of all Thursday-morning and Wednesday-evening Open Rehearsals. These informative talks, which include recorded musical examples, enhance the concert going experience by providing valuable insight into the music being performed.

RADIO BROADCASTS, STREAMING, PODCASTS, AND “CLASSICAL COMPANION”
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s extensive website, www.bso.org is the largest and most-visited orchestral website in the country, receiving more than 7.5 million visitors annually and generating $50 million in revenue since its launch in 1996. The BSO’s website offers fans information and music beyond the concert hall, providing interactive new media that includes “Classical Companion,” an interactive supplement of special BSO concerts that provides interviews with composers and performers, archival images, and video and sound clips. BSO Concert Preview Podcasts, focusing on each of the programs of the BSO’s 2009-2010 season, are available through www.bso.org and on iTunes.
BSO concerts can be heard regularly on the radio. The Friday-afternoon concerts are broadcast on WGBH 89.7 FM, and the Saturday-evening concerts are broadcast on WCRB 99.5 FM. WGBH also streams the concerts live through their website at www.wgbh.org.

SYMPHONY CAFÉ AND SYMPHONY SHOP
Symphony Café offers buffet-style dining from 5:30 p.m. until concert time for all evening Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts. In addition, Symphony Café is open for lunch prior to Friday afternoon concerts. Patrons enjoy the convenience of pre-concert dining at the Café in the unique ambiance of historic Symphony Hall. The cost of dinner is $32.50 per person; the cost of lunch is $19.00. The Café is located in Higginson Hall; patrons enter through the Cohen Wing entrance on Huntington Avenue. Please call 617-638-9328 for reservations.
The Symphony Shop, located in the Cohen Wing on Huntington Avenue, is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday from noon to 6 p.m., and from one hour before concert time through intermission. A satellite shop, located on the first-balcony level, is open only during concerts. Merchandise may also be purchased by visiting the BSO website at www.bso.org.

SYMPHONY HALL TOURS
The Boston Symphony Association of Volunteers offers free public tours of Symphony Hall Wednesdays at 4:00 p.m. (September 30 – December 9, 2009 and January 1 – June 23, 2010), and the second Saturday of every month at 2:00 p.m. (October 10 – December 12 and January 9 – June 12, 2010) during the BSO season. Tours begin at the Massachusetts Avenue lobby entrance. Schedule subject to change. Please email bsav@bso.org, or call 617-638-9391 to confirm specific dates and times.

SPONSORSHIPS
UBS will continue its partnership with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as its exclusive season sponsor, building on the mutually successful partnership that began in 2003. EMC Corporation is the supporting partner of the 2009-10 BSO season. Pre-concert Talks and the Symphony Cafe are supported by New England Coffee, official coffee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The Fairmont Copley Plaza Boston, together with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, is the official hotel of the BSO. Commonwealth Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation is the official chauffeured transportation provider of the BSO.

All programs and artists are subject to change. For current program information, dial 617-CONCERT (266-2378). For further information, call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is online at www.bso.org.

PRESS CONTACTS:
Bernadette Horgan, Director of Public Relations (bhorgan@bso.org) 617-638-9285
Kathleen Drohan, Associate Director of Public Relations (kdrohan@bso.org) 617-638-9286

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Download this Press Release:
BSO Press Release, October 30, 2009