Masterworks Series Masterworks: The Emperor & the Revolutionary

Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with Joyce Yang

Welcoming back Birmingham’s favorite pianist, Joyce Yang, to the stage with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra for a season finale led by Resident Conductor Christopher Confessore, pairing two of music’s most commanding works. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 — the “Emperor” — is a monument of the concerto repertoire, opening with a cadenza of almost shocking boldness before settling into one of Beethoven’s most serene slow movements. Yang, one of today’s most acclaimed interpreters of the standard repertoire, brings both technical brilliance and musical depth to the keyboard. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 closes the program on an even grander scale — a work written under Stalin’s shadow that somehow manages to be both defiant and devastating. The evening opens with Glinka’s overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila, brilliant and fleet-footed, a perfect curtain-raiser.

Thanks to our Masterworks series sponsor, Health Pros for the ASO.

Plan Your Visit

Conductor Comments is a free benefit to all ticket holders. Come early and hear insights that only the conductor can share. Offered on both Friday and Saturday evenings, from 6:15–6:35, the conductor offers history and context on the arrangements you’ll hear, along with insight into how the program flows together — a wonderful way to deepen your experience before the first note fills the hall.

The door is open when you arrive, and we’re glad to have you join us at any point — open seating, no reservation needed. Volunteers are on hand to help you find your way.

Join us in the Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall, found in the upper lobby of the Alys Stephens Center.

Artists

Christopher Confessore, conductor

Joyce Yang, piano

Program to Include

GLINKA Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, “The Emperor”

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5 in D Minor