Performers
Mariinsky Orchestra
Valery Gergiev, Music Director and Conductor
Nelson Freire, Piano

Program
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2
R. STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben

The “marvelous” (Los Angeles Times) Mariinsky Orchestra and its Music Director Valery Gergiev—renowned for their high-octane, virtuosic performances—perform two masterpieces that will set pulses racing. The Brahms concerto’s muscular solo part, rich orchestration—including a sublime cello solo in the Andante—and melodic splendor make it one of his most enduring works, while Strauss’s epic tone poem Ein Heldenleben excites with its lush orchestration and a cinematic sensibility, especially in a famous scene where the hero battles his critics.