Slatkin and Ax: Hope and Humanity

Item details

Date

Saturday, Oct 11, 2025 7:30PM

Name

Slatkin and Ax - Hope and Humanity

Description

📍 This concert takes place at Powell Hall
🕒 2 hours, 15 minutes (including intermission)

Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano

Leonard Slatkin Schubertiade: An Orchestral Fantasy (U.S. Premiere)
W.A. Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25, K. 503
Edward Elgar Symphony No. 1

Often it is simple joys like friendship and family that inspire great works of art. This is certainly the case with Elgar’s majestic First Symphony, led in these performances by SLSO Conductor Laureate Leonard Slatkin, who also presents music of his own for a compelling U.S. premiere. Emanuel Ax, Slatkin’s dear friend and one of the most accomplished pianists of our time, takes the solo spotlight for Mozart’s adventurous Piano Concerto No. 25, a masterpiece described by Ax as pure magic.

A few things to know:

• Following its premiere in Manchester, England in 1908, The Musical Times reported that Elgar’s First Symphony was “an immediate and phenomenal success.”
• Schubertiade: An Orchestral Fantasy was commissioned by the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra and received its world premiere in January 2025. These performances are the U.S. Premiere.
• An integral force in raising the SLSO profile nationally and internationally during his 17 years as SLSO Music Director from 1979 to 1996, Leonard Slatkin led the orchestra in every major work by dozens of composers, introduced 30 pieces commissioned by the SLSO to the orchestral repertoire, and conducted the U.S. or world premieres of 32 additional works.

Tickets are currently available for subscribers. Curated Series and Compose Your Own subscriptions are on sale now.