Afternoon Performance: Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1

Tickets On Sale: 10am, Thursday 9 May 2024

BBC SSO 2024/25: Afternoon Performance - Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1

Gabriella Smith Tumblebird Contrails (c.12 mins)

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 (c.38 mins)

Mahler Symphony No.1 (c.56 mins)

Alim Beisembayev piano

Tito Muñoz conductor

The orchestra throws down a challenge, and the piano strides forward with one of the grandest tunes Tchaikovsky ever wrote. Seabirds wheel and soar, and jet-streams trace fabulous patterns across the blue Pacific sky. And in the silence of dawn, a young artist walks out on a lifelong voyage: a tale of struggle and joy, turmoil and triumph. Three very different composers, and three different openings – but each one is just the start of an adventure, told today by the BBC SSO and conductor Tito Muñoz, who created such a buzz at City Halls in 2022. Pianist Alim Beisembayev is the soloist; this 2021 Leeds International Piano Competition winner has been described as “positively luminous”.