Andris Nelsons conducts Kendall, Lee, and Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 with Paul Lewis, piano

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano
Thomas Warfield, narrator

Hannah KENDALL The Spark Catchers
James LEE III Freedom’s Genuine Dawn, for narrator and orchestra (Co-commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Music Director, through the generous support of the New Works Fund established by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.)
Intermission
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor

English pianist Paul Lewis takes us on a musical and stylistic adventure through all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos over three concerts. These performances are paired with two poetic journeys: Hannah Kendall’s The Spark Catchers, inspired by imagery from Lemn Sissay’s poem by the same name; and James Lee III’s Freedom’s Genuine Dawn, a BSO co-commission set with texts by the seminal 19th-century African American orator and activist Frederick Douglass.