Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto – February 19-20, 2025

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal presents

Tchaikovsky’s Lustrous Violin Concerto

This concert will mark the OSM debut of brilliant young violinist Sergey Khatchatryan as he performs Tchaikovsky’s dramatic and lyric Concerto.

The gracefulness and melodic suppleness of Tchaikovsky’s celebrated Violin Concerto stand in stark contrast to the dramatic intensity of Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 11. With Shostakovich, music became a living testimony of human history, and in this arresting, powerfully disconcerting work, the composer is the eulogist of the oppressed, denouncing political repression in all its forms.

Artists
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM)
Rafael Payare, conductor
Sergey Khachatryan, violin

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Sergey Khachatryan won First Prize at the eighth International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki in 2000, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the competition. In 2005, he claimed First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. His recent appearances include performances with the Dresdner Philharmonie, Korean National Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestre national de Belgique, Queensland Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, and Bochumer Symphoniker. He also embarked on an extended tour of Spain with the Basque National Orchestra as well as on a North American tour with the Armenian National Philharmonic, whose destinations included Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, the Maison symphonique de Montréal, and Carnegie Hall in New York City. Sergey and his sister Lusine’s album My Armenia was released on the Naïve label and is dedicated to commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. The album garnered the 2016 Echo Klassik Award in the category Chamber Music Recording.  

Program
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY, Violin Concerto in D major, op. 35 (33 min.)
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH, Symphony no. 11 in G minor, op. 103, “The Year 1905” (55 min.)