The evening begins with Tchaikovsky's sumptuously beautiful Romeo and Juliet, an "Overture-Fantasy" inspired by the Bard's most famous tragedy, richly evocative of both the enmity between the feuding Montagues and Capulets as well as the passion of the star-crossed lovers. The profoundly moving work has long been a favorite in the concert repertoire, especially in the reworked versions to which Tchaikovsky returned more than once; it is the second version, published in 1870, that the orchestra performs here.

Violin virtuoso Fischer then makes her entrance to perform Glazunov's Violin Concerto, technically brilliant and structurally unique, each movement flowing into the next without pauses. Finally, the program comes to a close with Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony (1945), described by the composer as "transparent, pellucid, and bright" in mood, reflecting the Soviets' triumph over the Nazis on the Eastern Front of World War II.

Photo: Jakub Hrůša © Andreas Herzau, Julia Fischer © Uwe Arens