Blake Pouliot & Yannick Nézet-Séguin - Orchestre Métropolitain

This concert’s program is  infused with Mozart’s melodic genius and Beethoven’s lasting legacy. The inventive and playful Violin Concerto No. 5, composed during Mozart’s early years, features uninterrupted melodies that come to life in soloist-in-residence Blake Pouliot’s lively virtuosity. And Beethoven’s influence comes through in both Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 and the opening piece by Carlos Simon.

For many years, Brahms was unable to write a symphony, afraid that it wouldn’t live up to Beethoven’s legacy. But with Symphony No. 1, the composer conquered his fear to pen a powerful and triumphant work. African American composer Carlos Simon also takes a cue from the German master, drawing inspiration from the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony in Fate Now Conquers. Composed in 2020, the work gets the concert off to an engaging and dynamic start.