A hometown favourite, the globe-trotting pianist Lorraine Min is featured in one of Rachmaninoff’s most challenging and best loved works. This concert is sure to delight, especially listening to the sublime Variation 18! Shostakovich and Britten were near contemporaries, and equally precocious. Jaunty fiddle tunes from Quebec inspired Britten, while the Symphony No. 1 was Shostakovich’s graduation project from the Leningrad Conservatory. It brought him instant international fame.
Christian Kluxen, conductor
Now in his ninth season as Music Director of the Victoria Symphony in Canada, Christian Kluxen is also in his third season as Principal Guest Conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra in Finland, following a five-year tenure as Chief Conductor of the Arctic Philharmonic in Norway.
Kluxen has been described in the press as “a dynamic, charismatic figure” who “forms the music with an impressive vertical power of emotion and a focus on the grand form”, conducting “with exemplary clarity and a heavenly warmth”. He is recognized for his sincere and transparent leadership, innovative programming and his bold, imaginative and energetic interpretations, showcased both in his MD and guest work.
Alongside his many and varied commitments with the Victoria Symphony and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, recent and forthcoming guest engagements include Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Pacific Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Odense Symphony, and Norrköping Symphony. A fruitful and inspiring relationship with the Arctic Philharmonic, whom Kluxen led for five years as Chief Conductor, resulted in numerous exhilarating performances of a wide variety of repertoire, as well as several acclaimed recordings.
Lorraine Min, piano
Biography to come.
Program notes to come.
BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913—1976)
Canadian Carnival, Op. 19
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873—1943)
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
Introduction: Allegro vivace
Variation 1: (Precedente)
Theme: L’istesso tempo
Variation 2: L’istesso tempo
Variation 3: L’istesso tempo
Variation 4: Più vivo
Variation 5: Tempo precedente
Variation 6: L’istesso tempo
Variation 7: Meno mosso, a tempo moderato
Variation 8: Tempo I
Variation 9: L’istesso tempo
Variation 10: L’istesso tempo
—
Variation 11: Moderato
Variation 12: Tempo di minuetto
Variation 13: Allegro
Variation 14: L’istesso tempo
Variation 15: Più vivo scherzando
Variation 16: Allegretto
Variation 17: (Allegretto)
Variation 18: Andante cantabile
—
Variation 19: A tempo vivace
Variation 20: Un poco più vivo
Variation 21: Un poco più vivo
Variation 22: Marziale. Un poco più vivo (Alla breve)
Variation 23: L’istesso tempo
Variation 24: A tempo un poco meno mosso
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906—1975)
Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10
I. Allegretto; Allegro non troppo
II. Allegro
III. Lento
IV. Allegro molto; Lento