Ra, Mackey, and Tchaikovsky
Electrifying Virtuosity
Renowned conductor Robert Spano leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in the final concert of its bold and ambitious 2023–24 season, a remarkable program featuring two exhilarating world premieres and a late-Romantic era classic. The afternoon opens with a newly commissioned work by James Ra. Praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “a composer to watch,” Ra’s compositions have been described as “coursing with adrenaline-pumping energy.”
The program continues with GRAMMY Award-winning Curtis composition faculty member Steven Mackey’s Concerto for Electric Guitar, featuring the jaw-dropping virtuosity of guitarist JIJI, followed by Tchaikovsky’s impassioned, intensely personal Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”).
