The concert opens with Skride's electric interpretation of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, a virtuosic and demanding work that affords no moment of respite to the violin, which continually recounts its somber story with beguilingly lyrical tones. The virtuoso then performs a haunting encore, Stravinsky's sparse and intimate Elegy for Solo Violin, a beautiful clearing of the air before the storied orchestra and their new maestro launch into Tchaikovsky's spirited Symphony No. 5, one of the composer's most loved works, famously broadcast in 1941 during the Siege of Leningrad to boost morale.