Tchaikovsky Symphony Cycle and "The Queen of Spades"

Over three weeks, the Boston Symphony Orchestra explores the music and inner world of Tchaikovsky, performing all six of his symphonies and his opera The Queen of Spades (Pique Dame), and tracing the arc of a composer whose work is inseparable from questions of identity, vulnerability, and emotional truth. These performances are complemented by a series of talks featuring prominent speakers and thinkers who illuminate Tchaikovsky’s life and legacy through contemporary lenses — examining themes of self-doubt, desire, secrecy, and the politics of feeling that shaped both his creative process and public persona. Together, music and dialogue invite audiences to listen more deeply, encountering Tchaikovsky not as a distant Romantic icon, but as an artist whose struggles with visibility, belonging, and emotional honesty continue to resonate powerfully today.