Miraculous Mandarin with Rachmaninoff’s Fourth Piano Concerto

While visiting Mexico in 1932, Aaron Copland visited a popular dance hall and was entranced by the freshness and beauty of Mexican folk melody. He set about composing a piece to reflect the lively spirit he felt there. El Salón México includes bits of Mexican songs woven together with Copland’s characteristic zest.

Multitalented Conrad Tao has garnered international acclaim as a pianist, composer, and recording artist and will be making his debut with the Symphony to perform Rachmaninoff’s Fourth Piano Concerto. Pianistic fireworks are balanced with introspective moments, all adding up to an exhilarating experience.

Chilean-Italian conductor Paolo Bortolameolli takes the podium for this program, leading the orchestra in music by Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók. Not only were Kodály and Bartók both Hungarian composers, they were also friends and collaborators. Kodály, like Copland, was an admirer of folk music, and Dances of Galánta was heavily influenced by sounds of his homeland. Bartók’s adventurous suite from his one-act ballet The Miraculous Mandarin was deemed scandalous when it premiered in 1926. (Don’t forget to check out the Kansas City Symphony’s recording of The Miraculous Mandarin!)