CLASSICS: RACH & BARTÓK

Join us for a concert of favorite and significant 20th-century composers. Here in the Third Symphony, you find a mature  Rachmaninoff. Still a Master of Melodies, the composer presents ones that do not burst into heart-wrenching flights but toy around the edges of Expressionism, and a curiously inventive structure that both defies and follows traditional norms. The mystery and drama of celestial beauty you seek can be found in Bartók’s violin concerto.  We’re introduced to Serbian composer Isadora Źebeljan and her suite for orchestra that offers a metamorphosis to themes from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute.

German conductor Christian Reif has quickly established a reputation for his natural musicality, technical command, and leadership as an engaging communicator and outstanding orchestra builder. San Francisco Chronicle has written: “Reif is a remarkable talent… a conductor of considerable stature, and everything felt like the work of a significant musical artist.”

The recipient of a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2020 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, Alexi Kenney is building a career that defies categorization, following his interests, intuition, and heart. He is equally at home creating experimental programs and commissioning new works, soloing with major orchestras in the USA and abroad, and collaborating with some of the most celebrated musicians of our time.

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Concert Program
Isadora ŹEBELJAN: Hum away, hum away, strings!
Belá BARTÓK: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2
Sergei RACHMANINOFF:  Symphony No. 3

Christian Reif, conductor
Alexi Kenney, violin

BROWN-FORMAN FOUNDATION CLASSICS SERIES