This mid-April program features two major debuts with the Minnesota Orchestra, with guest conductor Kristiina Poska at the podium and American cellist Sterling Elliott in the soloist spotlight.
At 24 years old, Elliott is a fast-rising star who was recently named one of three recipients of the 2024 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and in 2021 received an Avery Fisher Career. In his Orchestra Hall debut, Elliott will perform Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. Composed in tribute to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the charming and elegant work is the only piece Tchaikovsky wrote for cello soloist and orchestra.
The program will take place at Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis on Thursday, April 18, at 11 AM, and Friday, April 19, at 8 PM, with ticket prices ranging from $50 to $129. Free tickets for all programs are available to young listeners ages 6 to 18 thanks to the Orchestra’s Hall Pass program. The performance on Friday, April 19, will be broadcast live on stations of YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio, including KSJN 99.5 FM in the Twin Cities.
Additional repertoire selected by Poska — the chief conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra — celebrates the arrival of springtime, and Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” will open the program. Originally composed as a ballet score to match the innovative modern choreography of Martha Graham, Copland’s suite was arranged for full orchestra in 1945. Written in eight sections and played without pause, “Appalachian Spring” tells the tale of a young pioneer couple in rural Pennsylvania through square dances, country fiddling and a famous finale built on the Shaker song “Simple Gifts.”
The concerts will conclude with Beethoven’s bright spirited Eighth Symphony. A leading contemporary interpreter of Beethoven, Poska released a recording of the composer’s Symphonies No. 1 and 7 with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra in 2021. Beaming with unconventional instrumental sounds, sly jokes and unexpected twists, the symphony is regarded as unusual compared to other orchestral works Beethoven crafted at the time — yet the Eighth would become one of the composer’s favorites. Like Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 is considered by many as a tribute to Mozart in its relaxed form and use of a relatively small orchestra.
