Hannu Lintu Leads Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Brahms' Symphony No. 2 This Weekend

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) welcomes the return of internationally renowned conductor Hannu Lintu for performances of Brahms' Second Symphony, tonight, October 30 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore, and Friday, October 31 and Saturday, November 1 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Also on the program are Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 and Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, performed by 20-year-old piano sensation Conrad Tao and BSO Principal Trumpet Andrew Balio. Please see below for complete program details.

Brahms composed his ebullient and tender Second Symphony at the peak of his career. He began working on the piece in the summer of 1877, while on vacation in a country retreat in Pörtschach, and later premiered the symphony in Vienna in December of the same year. Returning to the BSO for a third engagement is Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu, having made a smashing debut in 2010 leading Sibelius' Finlandia and Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and returning in 2013 for a Sibelius' Second Symphony, Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini and Liszt's Second Piano Concerto.

A program of both depth and light, the concert opens with Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3, written for his only opera, Fidelio. The opera tells how Leonore disguises herself as a prison guard named Fidelio to rescue her husband Florestan from death in a political prison. Beethoven struggled to produce an overture for Fidelio, and ultimately wrote four versions. His first attempt, for the 1805 premiere, is believed to be overture now known as Leonore No. 2. Beethoven then focused on the version for the opera's 1806 performances, creating Leonore No. 3, which is considered to be the greatest of the overtures.

Dubbed a musician of "probing intellect and open-hearted vision" by The New York Times, Conrad Tao has pursued a varied career as pianist, composer and violinist for nearly a decade. He gave his first piano recital at age four and at eight made his orchestral debut playing Mozart's Piano Concerto in A Major with the Utah Chamber Music Festival Orchestra. Tao joins Principal Trumpet Andrew Balio for Shostakovich's brief Piano Concerto No. 1. While Shostakovich is generally known for his dramatic, serious music, he had an antic sense of humor as a young man, and his First Piano Concerto (1933) unites virtuosity with an irreverent spirit.