James Ehnes and Beethoven’s Seventh

Fri Jun 16 — Sat Jun 17, 2023

Orchestra Hall

A season of grand orchestral endeavors comes to a close with the remarkable Sir Andrew Davis on the podium and one of Minnesota Orchestra’s dearest friends, violinist James Ehnes, playing the heartbreakingly beautiful Violin Concerto by Alban Berg. Also at the heart of the program is an imaginative work by Chen Yi that shares musical traditions from the Guangxi Zhuang region of China. Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is the perfect piece to bring this fantastic season to its final notes with abounding energy and showstopping orchestral force.

A Few Things To Know

James Ehnes was recognized as Gramophone’s Classical Artist of the Year in 2021 and is the recipient of two Grammy Awards.
Sir Andrew Davis’ first and only Minnesota Orchestra conducting appearance was in January 1976, in a program of music by Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Michael Tippett.
Sir Andrew Davis recently celebrated 50 years of partnership with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, having served as both conductor laureate and chief conductor; he is now the music director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Beethoven, who was notoriously self-critical, admitted that the Seventh Symphony was one of his own personal favorites, calling it “one of the happiest products of my poor talents.”
“Duo Ye is a form of age-old traditional song and dance of the Dong minority in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China, in which people stand in a circle with a bonfire in the center, and dance with slow steps towards one direction, while singing a short phrase,” explained Chen Yi, in a program note about her composition, Duo Ye.