The MET Orchestra

Experience all the color, energy, and soul that makes Russian music so exciting. Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 is laced with the composer’s hallmark melancholy and cutting sarcasm, but is also a spectacular showpiece for the soloist, particularly in the massive third movement cadenza and dizzying finale. Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird, a work inspired by Russian folklore, has a cinematic sensibility. Luxuriously scored for a massive orchestra, Stravinsky uses this vast orchestral palette to vividly depict demons and wild infernal dances to thrilling effect.

The MET Orchestra

A groundbreaking concerto performed by a virtuoso superstar and a powerful war-time symphony provide high-voltage excitement. Beethoven’s concerto’s challenging solo part, rich orchestration, and breadth of expression was revolutionary for its time and provided a blueprint for the large-scale concertos of the Romantic era and beyond. Prokofiev’s symphony, written in 1944, is an audience favorite that has vivid orchestral colors, high drama, and kinetic energy. A moving work, Prokofiev called it “a symphony of the grandeur of the human spirit.”

The MET Orchestra

Strauss looks back on his glorious career in song and in a magnificent tone poem. Filled with some of his most gorgeous melodies, his Four Last Songs contemplate life’s autumnal days and even quotes Death and Transfiguration, an orchestral work from decades before. Strauss also quotes earlier works in his sumptuously scored Ein Heldenleben, one of the most beloved works in the orchestral repertoire. In addition to the nostalgic passages, there’s the famous battle with critics and spectacular music that inspired generations of Hollywood composers.