Philadelphia Orchestra Tour

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music and artistic director

Tuesday Performance
Brahms — Symphony No. 3
Brahms — Symphony No. 4

Wednesday Performance
Bruce Liu, piano
Higdon — Concerto for Orchestra
Tchaikovsky — Piano Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky — Francesca da Rimini

Under the dynamic leadership of Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, The Philadelphia Orchestra returns to Hayes Hall for two unforgettable evenings that highlight the ensemble’s extraordinary artistry and expressive range.

The first program opens with Brahms’ passionate, free-spirited and bittersweet Symphony No. 3, a work that balances lush Romanticism with Classical structure, creating a rich palette of orchestral colors and elaborate contrapuntal textures. In contrast, Symphony No. 4 — Brahms’ final symphonic statement — offers a darker, more complex emotional landscape, culminating in a riveting passacaglia that many consider his greatest orchestral achievement. Together, these two masterpieces reveal the full breadth of Brahms’ symphonic voice.

The second evening begins with Concerto for Orchestra, a virtuosic showcase by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon, inspired in part by The Philadelphia Orchestra’s renowned string section. The spotlight then shifts to pianist Bruce Liu, whose meteoric rise has been fueled by both technical brilliance and emotional depth, as he takes on Tchaikovsky’s towering Piano Concerto No. 1. The evening concludes with Francesca da Rimini, Tchaikovsky’s vivid, emotionally charged tone poem based on Dante’s tragic tale of forbidden love.