It’s always a special occasion when one of America’s big five orchestras sets off across the Atlantic with almost 100 musicians, huge boxes of music scores and a dozen double basses in the hold. On top of that, the Philadelphia Orchestra has, in Franco-Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin, one of the most promising conductors of our time.

After an opening concert with the French pianist Hélène Grimaud, the piano is also the focus of attention on the second evening. The Philadelphia Orchestra has drafted in pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet for a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 for piano and orchestra »The Age of Anxiety«, at whose 1949 premiere Bernstein played the piano part himself. The guest performance is brought to a glorious close with Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. read less