Spotlight on China

Chinese cellist Jian Wang, “whose gifts,” according to the Italian paper La Stampa, “are now comparable to those of Yo-Yo Ma” and who was heard in the famous documentary From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China, is making his OSM debut in Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, a series of seven linked variations and a true challenge for the performer, with its shifts from ardent lyricism to pure virtuosity. This program paying tribute to China also includes Enchantements oubliés by Quigang Chen, a student of Olivier Messiaen’s, and Toy, for two flutes and orchestra, by Canadian composer Denis Gougeon, to whom the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) is paying homage this year. Look for Quian Jun and Jin Kai on traditional Chinese bamboo flutes. Conductor Long Yu also conducts the Fifth Symphony of Shostakovich, an autobiographical work that concludes with a final cry of victory or defiance.

GOUGEON, Toy, for 2 flutes and orchestra
TCHAIKOVSKY, Variations on a Rococo Theme
QIGANG CHEN, Enchantements oubliés
SHOSTAKOVICH, Symphony No. 5

Maison Symphonique, 1450, rue Saint-Urbain, Montréal
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