In Return to Orchestra Hall, Kirill Gerstein Plays Rachmaninoff

Conducted by Ryan Bancroft, the January 5 and 6 programs also include Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Solemn Prelude and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition

Music of Coleridge-Taylor and Mussorgsky featured in hour-long Symphony in 60 concert on Sunday, January 7

In his much-anticipated return performance with the Minnesota Orchestra, virtuoso pianist Kirill Gerstein will play the third of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s four piano concertos. The concerts will be led by American conductor Ryan Bancroft, who has earned critical acclaim as “one of the most promising and vibrant young conductors of our time.” Before assuming his new post as chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic in 2023, Bancroft will make his Minnesota Orchestra debut in a program that also features Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Solemn Prelude and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Gerstein will bring his soulful interpretation to Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, a masterful work known for both its technical complexity and thunderous themes. The pianist’s last performance with the Orchestra came at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, when he performed Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto live to a radio-only audience.

The program will be performed at Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis on Thursday, January 5, at 11 a.m., and Friday, January 6, at 8 p.m. Ticket prices range from $45 to $114. The performance on Friday, January 6, will be broadcast on Twin Cities PBS (TPT-2), and streamed live for free on TPT.org and through the Orchestra’s website and social media channels. The broadcast will subsequently be released for on-demand viewing with a digital subscription to the Orchestra’s Digital Concert Hall.

In addition to the January 5 and 6 subscription program, a subsequent Symphony in 60 concert will be held on Saturday, January 7, at 6 p.m. with all tickets priced at $32. Designed for audiences newer to the Minnesota Orchestra, Symphony in 60 concerts are hour-long experiences that include pre- and post-concert activities, a $5 happy hour and an earlier 6 p.m. start time. The January 7 concert will also be conducted by Ryan Bancroft and will consist of Coleridge-Taylor’s Solemn Prelude and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. [Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto will not be performed on the Symphony in 60 performance.]

Written by a young Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Solemn Prelude earned a warm reception during its 1899 premiere. However, there are no records of additional performances during the next 122 years; due to discriminatory practices in the recording industry and the orchestral field more broadly, the composition by Coleridge-Taylor—who was Black—was never published. After the late-19th century manuscript was tracked down at the British Library in 2021, the work is now receiving major orchestral performances worldwide; this performance marks its first presentation at Orchestra Hall.

While Pictures at an Exhibition was first written by Modest Mussorgsky as a piano score, it gained widespread popularity through its arrangement by Maurice Ravel, who reimagined the music with larger instrumentation. Inspired by Mussorgsky’s visit to a posthumous exhibition of the paintings of Viktor Hartmann’s—a close friend of the composer—Pictures contains one of the most recognizable themes in classical music.

 

About Ryan Bancroft

Los Angeles native Ryan Bancroft gained international recognition as a conductor in 2018, winning first prize and the audience prize at the prestigious Malko Competition for Young Conductors held in Copenhagen. In September 2021, he began his tenure as principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He is artist in association of the Tapiola Sinfonietta and in 2021 was named chief conductor designate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, with his tenure as chief conductor set to begin in September 2023. He has conducted numerous orchestras throughout Europe and North America, including the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and Houston Symphony.

Passionate about new music, Bancroft has performed with Amsterdam’s acclaimed Nieuw Ensembles, assisted Pierre Boulez in a performance of his Sur Incises in Los Angeles, and premiered works by Sofia Gubaidulina, John Cage, James Tenney and Anne LeBaron in addition to working closely with improvisers Wadada Leo Smith and Charlie Haden. He returns to work with the Ensemble intercontemporain in Paris in March 2023. More: intermusica.co.uk.

About Kirill Gerstein

Kirill Gerstein’s intense piano technique and imaginative musical presence have brought him a career that spans concert halls around the globe. He has appeared with the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony and Bavarian Radio Symphony, in addition to giving recitals in many major cities.

During the 2022-23 season, Gerstein is artist in residence with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and will present a three-part concert series at Wigmore Hall in London. He has recorded several albums on the myrios label since 2010, and his 2020 premiere recording with the Boston Symphony Orchestra of Thomas Adès’ Piano Concerto, which was written for Gerstein, won a 2020 Gramophone Award and was nominated for three Grammys. He is a professor of piano at Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Hochschule and a faculty member at the Kronberg Academy. More: imgartists.com, kirillgerstein.com.

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Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

GERSTEIN PLAYS RACHMANINOFF

 

Thursday, January 5, 2023, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, January 6, 2023, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

 

Minnesota Orchestra

Ryan Bancroft, conductor

Kirill Gerstein, piano

 

COLERIGDE-TAYLOR	Solemn Prelude
RACHMANINOFF	Piano Concerto No. 3
MUSSORGSKY/Ravel	Pictures at an Exhibition

 

Tickets: $45 to $114 [Free tickets available for young listeners ages 6 to 18, thanks to our Hall Pass program.]

* The performance on Friday, January 6, will be broadcast on Twin Cities PBS (TPT-2), and streamed live for free on TPT.org and through the Orchestra’s website and social media channels. The concert will subsequently be released for on-demand viewing with a digital subscription through the Minnesota Orchestra’s Digital Concert Hall.

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Symphony in 60

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

 

Saturday, January 7, 2023, 6 p.m. / Orchestra Hall

 

Minnesota Orchestra

Ryan Bancroft, conductor

 

RACHMANINOFF	Piano Concerto No. 3
MUSSORGSKY/Ravel	Pictures at an Exhibition

 

Tickets: $32 [Free tickets available for young listeners ages 6 to 18, thanks to our Hall Pass program.]

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TICKET PURCHASING INFORMATION

Tickets and subscription packages can be purchased at minnesotaorchestra.org or by calling 612-371-5656. For groups of 10 or more, call 612-371-5662.

Details around COVID safety protocols can be found at minnesotaorchestra.org/safety

The Hall Pass program makes free tickets available for young listeners ages 6 to 18 for select Classical and Symphony in 60 concerts, and all kids under 18 for Family concerts. This program is sponsored by Cynthia and Jay Ihlenfeld. For more information, visit minnesotaorchestra.org/hallpass

Our This Is Minnesota Orchestra digital concert series is made possible in part by a generous lead gift from Kathryn and Charles Cunningham. Digital subscriptions are available for purchase; the $60 annual household subscription can be purchased at minnesotaorchestra.org/digital-concerts

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

All programs, artists, dates, times and prices subject to change.

 

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