PER ASPERA AD ASTRA - Through hardship to the stars at Meridian Arts Centre - George Weston Recital Hall

Manuel de Falla’s The Three-cornered Hat suite draws its music from de Falla’s ballet of the same name, which uses harmonic and melodic idioms derived from traditional Andalusian folk music, flamenco style, and the cante jondo, and had sets designed Pablo Picasso. Internationally renowned pianist Ludmil Angelov then performs Frédéric Chopin’s virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 2. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 5 can be heard as a per aspera ad astra narrative: through hardship to the stars. It’s cyclical structure, in which the same motif recurs in all three movements, begins in E minor, and gradually makes its way through a large-scale cycle of subdominants, to E major in the final movement.

Kristian Alexander | conductor Ludmil Angelov | pianist Daniel Vnukowski | host

7:10 p.m. Prélude: pre-concert recital. 7:20 p.m. Pre-concert talk. Intermission discussion and Q&A with Ludmil Angelov and Daniel Vnukowski.