Innovation and Tradition

Charismatic Spanish violinist Leticia Moreno joins the Franz Schubert Filharmonia as soloist in Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a masterpiece of melodic depth and emotional expression. This thrilling concerto, which has delighted audiences since its premiere, has helped make Glass one of the most influential composers in contemporary music.

After the interval, Tomàs Grau will conduct the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, a work full of energy and lyricism.

Symphonic New York

Whenever Leonard Bernstein was asked whether West Side Story was an opera or a musical, he always said that pigeonholing the work was meaningless – all that mattered was that its music and storyline touched people. Over the years, it has become one of the most freqently performed scores by an American composer, thanks to the inventive way in which Bernstein combines touches of jazz, Latin rhythms and elements of musical comedy with the conventions of classical music. The Symphonic Dances weave together some of the work’s all-time classic numbers.

Philip Glass made minimalism fashionable, but when he composed his Violin Concerto he was not attempting to break new ground. “I wrote the piece in 1987 thinking, let me write a piece that my father would have liked … [He was] the kind of person who fills up concert halls.” Forty years on, it remains one of Glass’s most popular works.