“Beethoven Nine is one of the big, demanding pieces in the repertoire, so when you play it, you’re always thinking about how to prepare for it. This performance turned out to be very different. I was thinking about the speeches a lot.

“Take the JFK—he’s one of the most liberal Democrats of all time, but in this ['Ich bin ein Berliner'] speech, he has the same message as Ronald Regan, about tearing down the Berlin Wall. You have two diametrically opposed politicians, but their essential message is the same, and it all comes down to freedom. The Susan B. Anthony speech made me think about my mother, who graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 1935—the speech made me rethink what my mother did, and the time in which she did it.

“I don’t like to use the phrase ‘transformational experience,’ but the combination of performing Beethoven Nine with these speeches … I think I’m going home different for it. Does a performance like this have the power to change things? I don’t know … but I do know that I’m going to go home and talk to my son about what in life is truly important.

“When you think about how classical music ‘should’ be performed, you think, ‘Should Beethoven Nine be performed traditionally, or does it have the power, the ability, to be more?’ After this, I’d say yes. Maybe it’s this moment that we’re in—politically, internationally, where we are as an orchestra with a new music director—but this program happened at the right time for me.”

ROMEO AND JULIET    
September 30 – October 3
Unforgettable scores by Tchaikovsky and Berlioz portray star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet. Barely out of his teens, dynamic violinist Ray Chen has already won several international competitions; here he brings youthful passion and mature virtuosity to Mendelssohn’s irresistible Violin Concerto.

BEST OF MOZART    
October 14–17
Beyond the mystique of Mozart—his astonishing precocity and early demise—lies the music itself, revealed here in its kaleidoscopic moods. A heavenly serenity infuses the themes of the Clarinet Concerto and his last symphony, “Jupiter,” while his impetuous First Symphony, composed at the age of 8, bursts with youthful energy.

RUSSIAN TALES 
October 28–31
The ardent themes of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 come to life under the fingers of pianist Dudana Mazmanishvili, praised for her expressive and dynamic performances. Prokofiev’s popular Fifth Symphony pulses with energy; influential American composer Roger Sessions contributes an inventive suite.