PSO Virtual Concert Features Cellist Pablo Ferrández And Simon 'Elegy'

Star cellist Pablo Ferrández makes his highly anticipated Princeton return-virtually-as part of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO)'s Sunday, October 18 online concert broadcast at 4pm with a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suite No. 1. Also on the program are Carlos Simon's An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave and Dmitri Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony, an arrangement of his eighth string quartet for string orchestra by Rudolf Barshai. Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov conducts.

Access to the virtual concert is $15 per unique device link, and includes the ability to participate in a live chat while watching with an online community of music lovers. Following the broadcast at 4pm, viewers receive on-demand access to the concert for one week.

Prizewinner at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition and Sony Classical exclusive artist, Pablo Ferrández announces himself as a musician of stature. Recent highlights include debuts at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, Bayersichen Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra under Daniele Gatti, Bamberg Symphony under Christoph Eschenbach, performances of Brahms Double Concerto and Beethoven Triple Concerto with Anne-Sophie Mutter, and appearances with the London Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, and Orchestre National de France, among others. The 20/21 season will bring debuts with Filarmonica della Scala, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, and Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, and more. He plays the Stradivarius "Lord Aylesford" (1696) thanks to the Nippon Music Foundation.

Carlos Simon grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, playing the piano in the Pentecostal church where his father served as minister. Much of Simon's work is anchored in his passion for social justice, and it mixes musical styles including jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism. In addition to his instrumental and choral works, Simon is active as a film composer. Winner of the prestigious Sphinx Medal of Excellence for 2021, he is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Performing Arts at Georgetown University. Recent commissions include works for the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Gabriela Lena Frank Music Academy, Washington National Opera, Reno Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra, Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra, Irving Klein String Competition, and his alma maters Morehouse College and the University of Michigan, from which he received a doctor of musical arts in composition.

Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 is one of six suites for cello which were later discovered and popularized by the great cellist Pablo Casals. An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave was dedicated by Carlos Simon in 2015 to "those murdered wrongfully by an oppressive power." Shostakovich wrote his eighth string quartet over a three-day period in Dresden, where he was working on a film project surrounding the WWII firebombing of that city, and dedicated his work to the "memory of the victims of fascism and war"; the quartet was later arranged by Barshai, a Russian conductor and violist.

Single device tickets for PSO virtual concerts are available for $15 and includes on-demand access post-broadcast for one week. Available by calling 609-497-0020 and princetonsymphony.org.