The Firebird at Severance Music Center

The Cleveland OrchestraThomas Sndergrd, conductorStefan Jackiw, violinBRITTEN Violin Concerto No. 1STRAVINSKY The Firebird (complete ballet)Stravinskys Firebird set Paris aflame at its 1910 premiere, catapulting its composer to worldwide fame. Commissioned by Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev for his era-defining Ballets Russes it drew upon more than a dozen Russian folk characters to create an ultimate fairy tale, a story of princes, princess, and a magical firebird that was memorably realized in Disneys Fantasia 2000. Rising star Stefan Jackiw opens with Brittens riveting Violin Concerto, which the 25-year-old composer wrote amid budding romance and threatening war, and called without question my best piece, to that point.