Love and Friendship: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto

The Performance

Join the ISO and conductor Gemma New for a program that celebrates love and friendship. Tchaikovsky’s only Violin Concerto, one of the most popular concertos of all time, was a collaborative labor of love between the composer and his student, the violinist Iosif Kotek. In Elgar’s Enigma Variations, the composer depicts his closest friends and loved ones in each of its 14 variations. The program begins with Alissa Firsova’s Bride of the Wind, inspired by Oskar Kokoschka’s tempestuous affair with Alma Mahler following the death of her husband, Gustav.