Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto

Acclaimed Japanese conductor Nodoka Okisawa and legendary English cellist Steven Isserlis return to Melbourne for this exhilarating program.

Composer Yasushi Akutagawa was so enamoured with Russian music that he entered the Soviet Union illegally in 1954, where he established friendships with Shostakovich, Khachaturian and Kabalevsky, among others. This fantastic Triptyque (1953) for string orchestra fuses the punchiness of the Russian musical tradition with the folk sounds of his native Japan.

Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto was written in 1959 for his friend, the legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. The latter was so taken with it, that he learned it by heart in just four days.

Emerging Australian composer Naomi Dodd is known for her emotional, passion-filled works that spring from everyday experiences. Witness the premiere of a new work commissioned as part of the Cybec Young Composers' Program. Completed the year before his death in 1953, Prokofiev’s seventh and final symphony showcases his mastery of the orchestra, its apparent simplicity masking deep musical and emotional complexity.