Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 (1888) (1840–1893)
i. Andante – Allegro con anima
ii. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza
iii. Valse. Allegro moderato
iv. Finale. Andante maestoso – Allegro vivace
THANK YOU TO OUR SEASON SPONSORS
The NSO Music Director Chair is generously endowed by Roger Sant and Congresswoman Doris Matsui Noseda Era Fund Supporters
The Amici di Gianandrea
THANK YOU TO OUR PERFORMANCE SPONSORS
The Anne S. Reich Endowed Concert BVLGARI
Stage flowers for Thursday’s performance are presented in loving memory of Bessie Huidekoper Fay
Patrons are requested to turn off cell phones and other electronic devices during the performance. Any video and/or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.
Welcome
Dear Friends,
As we open the National Symphony Orchestra’s 95th season, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt thanks to you—our devoted patrons, supporters, and friends. Your presence this evening, and your unwavering support throughout the year, mean more than words can convey. It is your love of music, your generosity, and your steadfast belief in the arts that delight this remarkable orchestra.
In 1931, Hans Kindler founded the NSO with a bold vision: to build a world-class symphony orchestra in the heart of our nation’s capital. Nearly a century later, that vision continues to be our driving force. Today, under the dynamic artistic leadership of Gianandrea Noseda, we are more inspired than ever to share powerful performances with our audiences. The NSO is not simply an orchestra; it is a family of artists joined together through a shared love of music, unity of purpose, and commitment to something greater than us.
The NSO is more than what you see on stage—it is a living, breathing institution devoted to enriching lives. Our robust education and community engagement programs reach thousands of students, educators, and families each year. Between our Youth Fellowship Program and Summer Music Institute, to Young People’s Concerts, we strive to make music accessible to everyone—especially the next generation.
This commitment to connect with broader audiences is also seen through our vibrant, genre-defying series, led by the remarkable Steven Reineke, our Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor. Steven brings a wide-reaching musical vision to the NSO, bridging genres and generations. His programming has opened the door for new audiences to discover a love for orchestral music, while continuing to captivate longtime fans with the highest levels of artistry.
As we embark on this milestone season, we are reminded that our journey would not be possible without you. Thank you for being an essential part of this vibrant and enduring musical community.
With deepest gratitude and warmest regards,
Jean Davidson Executive Director National Symphony Orchestra
From the Music Director
Cari amici,
It is with immense joy and anticipation that I welcome you to the National Symphony Orchestra’s 95th anniversary season. This moment is more than a milestone—it is a celebration of our deep musical legacy and a renewed commitment to bringing powerful, moving performances to our community and beyond. This is only the beginning. The 95th season is filled with musical discovery, celebrated artists, and unforgettable experiences.
This season features iconic works that have stood the test of time, from classic masterpieces to thrilling contemporary music. The NSO also has the opportunity to share the stage with an exceptional lineup of guest artists and conductors—beloved icons and rising stars alike. Performing new music is something the NSO truly believes in. Make history with us as we present innovative new works, including five world premieres.
It is with immense joy and anticipation that I welcome you to the National Symphony Orchestra’s 95th anniversary season. This moment is more than a milestone—it is a celebration of our deep musical legacy and a renewed commitment to bringing powerful, moving performances to our community and beyond. This is only the beginning. The 95th season is filled with musical discovery, celebrated artists, and unforgettable experiences.
I am deeply grateful to share this journey with you. Your presence in the Concert Hall is what brings our music fully to life. Thank you for being a part of the NSO family—for your passion, your applause, and your unwavering support.
I am deeply grateful to share this journey with you. Your presence in the Concert Hall is what brings our music fully to life. Thank you for being a part of the NSO family—for your passion, your applause, and your unwavering support.
Con tutto il cuore,
Con tutto il cuore,
Gianandrea Noseda
Gianandrea Noseda
Music
Music Director, National Symphony Orchestra
Director, National Symphony Orchestra
Che la musica vi porti gioia e ispirazione—may music bring you joy and inspiration.
Che la musica vi porti gioia e ispirazione—may music bring you joy and inspiration.
Notes on the Program
Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Born November 22, 1913, in Lowestoft, England
Died December 4, 1976, in Aldeburgh, England
“I’m making it just as anti-war as possible,” Benjamin Britten remarked in an interview about the Sinfonia da Requiem, underscoring the deep-seated pacifism that had helped prompt his spring 1939 voyage to North America. The genesis of Sinfonia is thus all the more ironic.
Several months after Britten’s arrival in Canada and then New York City, just after the Second World War broke out, he was invited through the British Consul in New York to supply an orchestral score for a “special festivity” on behalf of an undisclosed great power. The young composer accepted in principle, stipulating that he could not provide anything overtly jingoistic. Only later did he learn the commissioner was the Japanese Empire, seeking works to mark the 2,600th anniversary of the imperial dynasty during Emperor Hirohito’s reign.
When the contract finally arrived—after a considerable delay—Britten’s deadline window had narrowed. In the spring of 1940, the 26-year-old composer finished a work that reflected his deep distress over the recent outbreak of war. But Japan’s militarist regime wanted music of festive, triumphal celebration, and the authorities rejected the score’s somber tone as “inappropriate to the occasion,” expressing deep offense and even suggesting that its reference to Christian liturgy had been intended as an insult.
In any case, Britten was allowed to keep the commission fee, and he dedicated Sinfonia da Requiem to the memory of his parents. The premiere by John Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic in March 1941 elevated Britten’s international profile, and the work’s American success ultimately led to the Koussevitzky Music Foundation’s commissioning of Peter Grimes (1945), with which Britten embarked on his career as one of the century’s leading opera composers.
Encouraged by his close friend W. H. Auden, Britten was also reckoning with his sense of difference during this transitional period. He and the English tenor Peter Pears—at the beginning of a personal and professional partnership that would shape both their careers—had crossed to North America together, looking for artistic freedom and space away from wartime conflict. But by early 1942, the pull of home and language—and Britten’s growing urge to write an English opera on an English subject, which became Peter Grimes—drew them back across the Atlantic. The two registered as conscientious objectors on arrival and re-rooted themselves in British musical life.
It is against this backdrop of exile, partnership, and pacifism that the Sinfonia da Requiem emerged, becoming Britten’s largest purely orchestral work for the concert hall. The title connotes a “symphony in the manner of a Requiem,” referring to the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead. Yet this is an instrumental symphony—no soloists, no chorus. Nothing is sung; the only words from the Latin Requiem to appear in the score are Britten’s headings for each of the work’s three movements, which are linked together without breaks.
Moreover, Britten arranges the movements out of the usual liturgical order associated with their headings. He begins with “Lacrymosa” (Latin for “tearful;” in the Requiem, it normally appears near the end of the long “Dies irae” sequence—the 13th-century “Day of Wrath” poem depicting the Last Judgment) and only then proceeds to the “Dies irae” itself, closing with “Requiem aeternam,” the ritual’s entrance prayer pleading for eternal rest. Rather than a liturgical ceremony, the effect is of an abstract drama moving from chilling terror to uneasy repose.
Britten uses the colors of his large orchestra (including alto saxophone, two harps, piano, and a vivid percussion battery) to great effect and with untiring imagination, evoking influences as diverse as Brahms, Mahler, and Shostakovich (with whom he would become friends). In its control of color and humane gravity, the Sinfonia da Requiem foreshadows
his later choral-orchestral masterpiece, the War Requiem—another work that insists, without rhetoric, on the dignity of the unheard.
In his own commentary on the work, Britten calls the opening “Lacrymosa” a “slow marching lament.” It begins with stark timpani strokes—the work’s somber heartbeat— that bear an uncanny similarity to the dramatic sonorities at the start of Carmina Burana The cellos then spell out a long, sighing line with responses from a solo bassoon. Britten also introduces a broad, yearning idea that opens with a wide leap and still another consisting of chords alternating between flute and trombone.
The first part of “Lacrymosa,” notes Britten, “is quietly pulsating,” after which comes “a long crescendo leading to a climax based on the first cello theme,” where the timpani return with special force. The music subsides, leading directly into “Dies irae,” a movement Britten also calls “a form of Dance of Death.” Combining the character of a fleet scherzo and a march, it features a fluttering gesture first heard in the flutes and, in the composer’s words, “a triplet repeated-note figure in the trumpets, a slow, smooth tune on the saxophone, and a livelier syncopated one in the brass.” Britten shapes all of these ideas as “a series of climaxes, of which the last is the most powerful, causing the music to disintegrate.”
As if arising out of ashes, the final movement, “Requiem aeternam,” begins with a calm, lullaby-like melody on three flutes over solo strings and harps. After a contrasting melody in the strings swells to a majestic crest, the opening lullaby returns, growing increasingly tentative and ending Sinfonia da Requiem softly on notes sustained by the clarinets—no triumph, only a hard-won, fragile vision of peace.
Cello Concerto WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI
Born January 25, 1913, in Warsaw, Poland
Died February 7, 1994, in Warsaw, Poland
For centuries, censorship in classical music was mostly a nuisance for opera composers, whose librettos were subject to changes deemed politically or sexually subversive. But 20th-century totalitarianism brought an unprecedented level of intrusion. Composers like Dmitri Shostakovich discovered that even abstract instrumental music could be branded dangerously heretical by the cultural police.
Such repression only enhanced the drive for individuality among mid-century composers. Emerging in 1930s Warsaw, Witold Lutosławski endured both Nazi and Communist tyranny at the outset of his career. During much of the German occupation of Warsaw, he earned his living playing piano duos with his colleague Andrzej Panufnik in cafés – one of the few spaces where the Nazi authorities still tolerated music making after shutting down official Polish concert institutions. Under Communist rule, his First Symphony was banned as unacceptably “formalist.” Lutosławski regained favor with the 1954 Concerto for Orchestra, which incorporates folk elements in line with official expectations while demonstrating Lutosławski’s own structural and coloristic thinking. Yet, Lutosławski refused to stand still. By the late 1950s, Poland’s cultural climate— relatively open compared with its Eastern Bloc neighbors—allowed limited exposure to Western ideas. A breakthrough came with his 1958 string piece Funeral Music. His encounter with John Cage’s music in 1960 proved decisive. Hearing only an excerpt of Cage’s Piano Concerto, Lutosławski later notes, “Those few minutes were to change my life decisively.” He soon devised his own method of controlled chance, which he called “aleatory counterpoint.” Here, the players follow fixed notes and rhythms but perform them without exact coordination, so the texture changes unpredictably each time. This approach—both disciplined and allowing for improvisational freedom—became one of the composer’s signatures, playing a central role in the Cello Concerto.
Notes on the Program
Lutosławski wrote the Concerto for the legendary Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who would later leave an indelible mark on the National Symphony Orchestra as its music director (1977–94). Rostropovich’s own clashes with Soviet authorities seem to resonate in the Cello Concerto. He described the piece as being built on a “relationship of conflict,” analogous to theater but following purely musical logic rather than serving as an allegory of oppression. Rostropovich’s wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, was said to have regarded the Cello Concerto as “the story of a 20th-century Don Quixote.”
Lutosławski, however, rejected literal political interpretations, stating that “nothing is more alien to my intention” than a programmatic narrative. “This work is a new example of an attempt to develop a musical form to larger dimensions,” he wrote. “This attempt is based on the analogies that can occur between music and other arts, in this case—between music and drama.” In other words, the musical form itself behaves dramatically, unfolding through conflict, confrontation, and transformation—much as a play or tragedy does.
Written between 1969 and 1970, the Cello Concerto unfolds in one continuous span of four sections. The first begins with an arresting cello soliloquy, anchored on a repeated D to be played “indifferently.” Sudden brass outbursts interrupt—brief, violent examples of aleatory counterpoint. The second section follows with four light-hearted scherzando episodes, punctuated by further orchestral “interventions.” A slower third section follows, marked “expressively and sadly,” where, as Lutosławski put it, the cello becomes “serious.” One of the concerto’s most haunting moments comes as piano, harp, and celesta mix with winds, creating an iridescent web of sound. The tension builds through a fierce accelerando before another orchestral eruption.
In the final section, the soloist stands alone as the conflict peaks in violent exchanges and tense silences. The orchestra hammers out the rhythm of the opening before crashing into a massive nine-note chord played “with all its force.” Yet a brief epilogue follows: the cello ascends to a high A, repeating it with new expressive insistence—a distant echo of the solitary D that began the journey.
Symphony No. 5, in E minor, Op. 64
PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Born May 7, 1840, in Votkinsk, Russia
Died November 6, 1893, in Saint Petersburg, Russia
Compared with his Fourth Symphony (1877–78) and Manfred (1885)—both long and emotionally taxing projects—Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony took shape at remarkable speed, composed between May and August 1888. At its heart is a recurring motto, first introduced by low woodwinds and returning, transformed, in every movement. This somber thread—often associated with Fate—binds the work into a single emotional arc.
Following the collapse of his brief marriage in 1877, Tchaikovsky began to explore his private mythology around the concept of Fate in the Fourth Symphony. The idea of a darkly ominous, inescapable Fate—as both a dramatic character and a musical presence—recurs obsessively in the last three of Tchaikovsky’s numbered symphonies, as well as in the Manfred Symphony (based on Lord Byron’s verse play) and in such operas as Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades
Although Tchaikovsky left no formal program for the Fifth, his sketchbook contains clues: the introduction, he notes, signifies a “total submission before Fate,” while the main part of the first movement is characterized by “murmurs, doubts, laments, reproaches... Shall I cast myself into the embrace of faith???”
A slow, solemn introduction presents the symphony’s recurring motto, which is intoned by the clarinets, like an invocation of Fate itself. It shares a kinship with the main theme of the first movement proper, voiced by solo clarinet and bassoon in unison. After laying out a profusion of ideas, Tchaikovsky brings the first section to a thrilling climax in the major key. No sooner does Tchaikovsky seem poised to powerfully restate the theme near the end of the movement
than he dims the volume and darkens the texture in a kind of anticlimax—as if to suggest a hopeless circle being traced back to the brooding depths where he began. It will be left up to the finale to resolve this tension.
The Andante begins with another variation on the despondent melancholy of the opening. Entrusted at first to the solo horn—in a passage as poetic as it is perilous for that instrument to play—its liquid melody flows through the orchestra, gathering warmth and intensity as it grows. Yet even here, Tchaikovsky refuses to let Fate rest: about halfway through, the ominous motto suddenly erupts in the brass at full power, later returning even more intrusively—and with brutal violence.
In lieu of a scherzo, a dreamy sensibility emerges in the third movement in the form of a waltz, introducing a disarming naïveté into the symphonic context. Compared with the relatively equal proportions of the other three movements, its brevity underscores the fleeting nature of this wistful respite. The music nearly lulls us into forgetting the shadow that hangs over the symphony—until, near the very end, the Fate theme slips back in quietly against the gentle pulse of plucked strings.
The finale mirrors the overall structure of the first movement, opening with the Fate motif transformed into the major—now blazing with martial confidence—in a slow introduction before yielding to a whirlwind of energy and motion. But where the opening movement had culminated in an anticlimactic fadeout, the music here makes a determined push toward resolution, with a triumphant breakthrough that ends the symphony in a spirit of unbridled joy.
Yet that triumph invites scrutiny. Is its emphatic nature genuine, or a mask for unresolved turmoil? The finale’s apparent victory contains hesitation: a premature surge toward closure— be careful not to applaud too soon—before the music gathers momentum for the final drive. Some might even hear a foreshadowing of Dmitri Shostakovich’s strategy at the conclusion of his own Fifth Symphony. Tchaikovsky himself voiced doubts about the effectiveness of this ending, at times even deeming it “a failure.” In his next, and final, symphony, the Pathétique, he would reverse that apparent optimism with a descent into inexorable doom.
Meet the Artists
Edward Gardner, conductor
Edward Gardner has been Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) since September 2021, recently extending his contract until at least 2028.
In August 2024, he became Music Director of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet, having been Artistic Advisor since 2022. He is also Honorary Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, following his tenure as Chief Conductor.
Gardner’s recording on the LPO’s own label of Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage, captured live at his first concert as Principal Conductor in 2021, won a 2023 Gramophone Award for Best Opera Recording. February 2024 saw the release of Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, recorded in concert in February 2023. A second Tippett disc was released in November 2024, and a Rachmaninoff release will follow in May 2025. Planned for later this year are further albums of works by Dvořák, Schumann, and Britten.
In spring 2024, Gardner and the LPO were the subject of a behind-the-scenes TV documentary series on Sky Arts, Backstage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which was nominated for a 2025 BAFTA Award.
A passionate supporter of young talent, Gardner founded the Hallé Youth Orchestra in 2002 and regularly conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He has a close relationship with the Juilliard School’s Music Division and with the Royal Academy of Music, which appointed him their inaugural Sir Charles Mackerras Conducting Chair in 2014. Born in Gloucester in 1974, Gardner was educated at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music. He went on to become Assistant Conductor of the Hallé and Music Director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera. His many accolades include being named Royal Philharmonic Society Award Conductor of the Year
(2008), an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera (2009), and an OBE for Services to Music in The Queen’s Birthday Honors (2012).
Pablo Ferrández, cellist
Prizewinner at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition and SONY Classical exclusive artist, Pablo Ferrández is hailed as a “new cello genius” (Le Figaro). A captivating performer, “Ferrández has the lot: technique, mettle, spirit, authority as a soloist, expressivity, and charm” (El País).
Introduced by the Pittsburgh Symphony as “the next Yo-Yo Ma,” Ferrández has turned into a cello phenomenon and one of the most in-demand instrumentalists of his generation.
His debut album under SONY Classical, Reflections, released in 2021, was highly acclaimed by critics and praised with an Opus Klassik Award. In Fall 2022, Ferrández released his second album, which comprised the Brahms Double Concerto, performed with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Czech Philharmonic under Manfred Honeck, as well as Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio, performed with Mutter and Lambert Orkis.
Moonlight Variations, which includes Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, was published in May 2025 and is Ferrández’s last release on SONY Classical, this time with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Martin Fröst, and Julien Quentin as partners, and also receiving rave reviews.
One of the most sought-after cellists, Ferrández’s recent seasons have seen him appearing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Tonhalle
Orchestra, Bayersichen Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Konzerthaus Berlin Orchestra, NDR Elbphiharmonie Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Orchestra National de France, Oslo Philharmonic, Macao Symphony, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has also toured with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Czech Philharmonic.
Ferrández is frequently invited to internationally renowned festivals such as Verbier, Salzburg, Dresden, Rheingau, Sion, Aix-en-Provence, Tsinandali, Tongyeong, Abu Dhabi, and Dvořák Prague, among others.
Highlights of the 2025–2026 season include debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, SWR Sinfonieorchester, NCPA Symphony Orchestra, and the Tsinandali Festival Symphony under Zubin Mehta. Ferrández also returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Strings, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, and Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI.
Additionally, Ferrández will be Artistin-Residence at the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, performing various programs with the orchestras as well as in recital.
The 2025–2026 season features the Trio tour with Mutter & Yefim Bronfman with concerts in Munich, Hamburg, Geneva, Zurich, Paris, and Barcelona, as well as European tours with the European Union Youth Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko, and with the Spanish National Symphony and David Afkham.
Ferrández plays the Stradivarius “Archinto” 1689, on a generous lifelong loan from a member of the Stretton Society.
National Symphony Orchestra
The 2025–2026 season is the National Symphony Orchestra’s 95th and Music Director Gianandrea Noseda’s ninth season. Gianandrea Noseda serves as the orchestra’s seventh music director, joining the NSO’s legacy of distinguished leaders: Christoph Eschenbach, Leonard Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Antal Doráti, Howard Mitchell, and Hans Kindler. Its artistic leadership also includes Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Steven Reineke.
Since its founding in 1931, the NSO has been committed to performances that enrich the lives of its audience and community members. In 1986, the National Symphony became an artistic affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where it has performed since the Center opened in 1971. The 96-member NSO participates in events of national and international importance, including the annual nationally televised concerts on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol, live-streamed performances on medici.tv, and local radio broadcasts on WETA Classical 90.9 FM.
Since launching its eponymous recording label in 2020, the NSO has embarked on ambitious recording projects, including its first complete Beethoven Symphony cycle and the release of the first-ever cycle of George Walker’s Sinfonias, both led by Noseda. Recent projects include Four Symphonic Works by Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon conducted by Noseda, and William Shatner’s So Fragile, So Blue, recorded live in the Concert Hall with the NSO under Steven Reineke. Forthcoming releases with Gianandrea Noseda include music by Gustav Mahler, William Grant Still, and Samuel Barber’s opera Vanessa. The NSO’s community engagement and education projects are nationally recognized, and career development opportunities for young musicians include the NSO Youth Fellowship Program and its acclaimed, tuition-free Summer Music Institute.
Pipe Dreams
This November, Louis Langrée led the National Symphony Orchestra and organist Marvin Mills in Camille Saint-Saëns’ triumphant Symphony No. 3—the “Organ Symphony.” It was a rare opportunity to hear the towering chords of the organ thunder through the Concert Hall.
Those glistening silver pipes at the back of the stage were ready to sing out, but what the audience can see is only a fraction of the majestic instrument.
Installed in 2012, the current Rubenstein Family Organ replaced the Center’s “Filene” organ, installed in 1972 and eventually deemed unsalvageable in 2008. After four years of fundraising, two years of construction, and over three months of installation, the new Casavant Bros. company organ made its debut in the Concert Hall.
The installation process was no easy feat. Two technicians tuned and voiced the organ each night over several weeks. With one man at the console and the other 40 feet in the air among the pipes, they worked together to perfect the sound by opening or closing air holes and shaving or moving parts of pipes. The precise, careful process paid off, creating the powerful, breathing instrument that lives in the Concert Hall today.
BY THE NUMBERS
3 packed semitrucks hauled the instrument to the Center
20 tons is the instrument’s total weight
4,972 pipes of all sizes make up the organ
0.625 inches is the length of the smallest pipes
32 feet is the length of the largest pipes
150 decibels is the loudest an organ can reach
The organ’s console consists of…
4 manual keyboards
32 long wooden pedals
104 stops (knobs that each control a group of 61 pipes)
A technician tunes the new Rubenstein Family Organ during installation
Loud and Clear
Nine terms to know in the Concert Hall, loosely defined.
Symphony
An extended work with multiple sections—typically four movements.
A “symphonic” piece is a long piece with multiple interpretations of a musical idea. A repeated, transformed musical idea is called a theme
Orchestra
A group of musicians who play together.
In the Western European tradition, an orchestra often includes the four major instrument families—brass, woodwinds, strings, and percussion. An especially large orchestra is called a symphony orchestra. A smaller orchestra is called a chamber orchestra.
Movement
A section of a musical work. Movements are often separated by silences, and they typically differ in tempo—speed.
Sonata
Originally, a musical composition played on instruments. In modern usage, “sonata” can mean a piece for a soloist or an ensemble, often with two to four movements.
If a work or a movement is written in sonata form, it is structured in three sections: exposition, development, and recapitulation.
Concerto
A piece pairing a technically advanced soloist with the support of an orchestra, usually in three movements. Though there may be multiple soloists, the contrast between a larger ensemble and a soloing group defines a concerto.
Cantata
A musical composition with both a vocal and an instrumental part. Cantatas are often used in church services—church cantatas
Overture
An orchestral instrumental introduction to a dramatic musical work, such as an opera or a ballet. Composers, particularly those of the Romantic Period, sometimes composed independent concert overtures, intended to begin a larger musical program.
Romantic music
Works associated with the 19th-century Romantic Period. Building off the intellectual innovation of the Romanticism movement, Romantic music emphasizes self-expression, emotion, and experimentation.
Chaconne
A musical framework characterized by a three-beat meter, a major key, a repeating bassline, and/or a harmonic progression—a series of chords.
National Symphony Orchestra
GIANANDREA NOSEDA , MUSIC DIRECTOR
The Roger Sant and Congresswoman Doris Matsui Chair
STEVEN REINEKE , PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR AND ARTISTIC ADVISOR
VIOLINS
Nurit Bar-Josef, Concertmaster
Ying Fu, Associate Concertmaster, The Jeanne Weaver Ruesch Chair
Ricardo Cyncynates, Assistant Concertmaster
Xiaoxuan Shi, Second Assistant Concertmaster
Jane Bowyer Stewart
Heather LeDoux Green
Lisa-Beth Lambert
Jing Qiao
Marina Aikawa
Peiming Lin
Derek Powell
Regino Madrid**
Meredith Riley**
Marissa Regni, Principal
Dayna Hepler, Assistant Principal
Cynthia R. Finks
Deanna Lee Bien
Glenn Donnellan
Natasha Bogachek
Carole Tafoya Evans
Jae-Yeon Kim
Wanzhen Li
Hanna Lee
Benjamin Scott
Malorie Blake Shin
Angelia Cho
Kei Sugiyama**
VIOLAS
Daniel Foster, Principal, The Mrs. John Dimick Chair
Dana Kelley, Assistant Principal
Denise Wilkinson
Nancy Thomas
Jennifer Mondie
Tsuna Sakamoto
Ruth Wicker
Mahoko Eguchi
Abigail Evans Kreuzer
Rebecca Epperson
Chiara Dieguez**
Jacob Shack**
CELLOS
David Hardy, Principal, The Hans Kindler Chair, The Strong Family and the Hattie M. Strong Foundation
Raymond Tsai, Assistant Principal
David Teie
James Lee
Rachel Young
Mark Evans
Eugena Chang Riley
Loewi Lin
Britton Riley
Noah Krauss
BASSES
Robert Oppelt, Principal
Richard Barber, Assistant Principal
Jeffrey Weisner
Ira Gold
Paul DeNola
Charles Nilles
Alexander Jacobsen
Michael Marks
HARP
Adriana Horne, Principal
FLUTES
Aaron Goldman, Principal
Leah Arsenault Barrick, Assistant Principal
Matthew Ross
Carole Bean, Piccolo
OBOES
Nicholas Stovall, Principal, The Volunteer Council Chair
Jamie Roberts, Assistant Principal
Harrison Linsey***
Kathryn Meany Wilson***, English Horn
CLARINETS
Lin Ma, Principal
Eugene Mondie, Assistant Principal
Paul Cigan
Peter Cain, Bass Clarinet
BASSOONS
Sue Heineman, Principal
David Young, Assistant Principal
Steven Wilson
Sean Gordon, Contrabassoon
HORNS
Abel Pereira, Principal, The National Trustees’ Chair
James Nickel, Acting Associate Principal
Markus Osterlund***
Scott Fearing
Robert Rearden
Geoffrey Pilkington**
TRUMPETS
William Gerlach, Principal, The Howard Mitchell Chair, The Strong Family and the Hattie M. Strong Foundation
Michael Harper, Assistant Principal
Michail Thompson
Tom Cupples
TROMBONES
Craig Mulcahy, Principal
Evan Williams, Assistant Principal
David Murray
Matthew Guilford, Bass Trombone
TUBA
Stephen Dumaine, Principal, The James V. Kimsey Chair
TIMPANI
Jauvon Gilliam, Principal, The Marion E. Glover Chair
Scott Christian, Assistant Principal
PERCUSSION
Eric Shin, Principal, The Hechinger Foundation Chair
Erin Dowrey, Assistant Principal
Scott Christian
Jason Niehoff*
KEYBOARD
Lambert Orkis, Principal
Lisa Emenheiser*
ORGAN
William Neil*
LIBRARIANS
Elizabeth Cusato Schnobrick, Principal
Zen Stokdyk, Associate
Karen Lee, Assistant
PERSONNEL
Karyn Garvin, Director
Sufyan Naaman**, Coordinator
STAGE MANAGERS
David Langrell, Manager
N. Christian Bottorff, Assistant Manager
The National Symphony Orchestra uses a system of revolving strings. In each string section, untitled members are listed in order of length of service.
*Regularly Engaged Extra Musician
** Temporary Position
***Leave of Absence
National Symphony Orchestra Staff
ADMINISTRATION
Jean Davidson, Executive Director
Sabryn McDonald, Executive Assistant
EXECUTIVE TEAM
Kasama Apfelbaum, Vice President, Financial Planning & Analysis
Nigel Boon, Vice President, Artistic Planning
John Roloff, Vice President, Orchestra Operations
ARTISTIC PLANNING
Justin Ellis, Senior Producing Director
Emily Graham, Assistant Artistic Administrator
Ana Vashakmadze, Artistic Assistant Administrator
DEVELOPMENT
Kate Baker, Assistant Manager, NSO Board and Leadership Campaigns
Laney Pleasanton, Manager, NSO Individual Giving
Pamela Wardell, Senior Director of Development
EDUCATION
Vanessa Thomas, Director of Education Activation & Engagements
FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
Eric Rubio, Director of Finance & Administration
HUMAN RESOURCES
Tony Amato, Director, Total Rewards
Chanel Kemp, Talent Acquisition Manager
Patrice McNeill, Director, HR Operations
Lisa Motti, HRIS Coordinator
Ericka Parham, Benefits Analyst
John Sanford, Senior Business Partner
MARKETING & ADVERTISING
Scott Bushnell, Senior Director, Creative and Brand Strategy
Cayley Carroll, Director, NSO Production & Orchestra Operations
Karyn Garvin, Director of Orchestra Personnel
David Langrell, Stage Manager
Sufyan Naaman, Personnel and Auditions Coordinator
Ava Yap, Operations Assistant
Kennedy Center Staff
KENNEDY CENTER EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
President, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Chief Financial Officer
Ambassador Richard Grenell
Donna Arduin General Counsel
Senior Vice President, Development
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Senior Vice President, Special Events
Vice President, Human
Vice President, Operations
Vice President,
Vice President, Public Relations
Chief Information Officer
Executive Director, National Symphony Orchestra
General Director, Washington
Concert Hall Staff
Theater Manager
Box Office Treasurer
Berke
Dale
Osborne
Donlon
Allen V. McCallum Jr.
Deborah Glover
Head Usher Cathy Crocker
Stage Crew
*Represented by ATPAM, the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers.
The technicians at the Kennedy Center are represented by Local #22, Local #772, and Local #798 I.A.T.S.E. AFL-CIO-CLC, the professional union of theatrical technicians.
Zach Boutilier, Michael Buchman, Paul Johannes, April King, John Ottaviano, and Arielle Qorb
Steinway Piano Gallery is the exclusive area representative of Steinway & Sons and Boston pianos, the official pianos of the Kennedy Center.
The American Guild of Musical Artists, the union of professional singers, dancers and production personnel in opera, ballet and concert, affiliated with the AFL-CIO, represents the Artists and Staging Staff for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The box office at the Kennedy Center is represented by I.A.T.S.E, Local #868.
National Symphony Orchestra musicians are represented by the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Federation of Musicians, AFM Local 161-710.
Orchestrated Lives
Each month, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) spotlights a different musician in the Orchestra. For this program, former Assistant Principal Viola Abigail Evans Kreuzer discusses onstage memories, her childhood in the classical music world, and the potentially warranted vitriol of viola jokes.
Name: Abigail Evans Kreuzer
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Instrument: Viola
Years with the NSO: 21
How did you find your way into the world of professional musicianship? We ended up in Pittsburgh because my dad got his dream job in the Pittsburgh Symphony—he was a bass player. Sometimes he brought me along to rehearsals, and I got to sit in the hall by myself and watch people do amazing things on stage. It felt very exciting to me. When I started playing in an orchestra myself, it just felt like home.
What attracted you to the viola? I actually came to the viola by complete chance. I started as a violinist, but one summer, I was going to attend Meadowmount School of Music, which is a summer practice festival. They were offering extra scholarship money for anyone willing to play viola in a chamber group. I was really nervous about it because I didn't read the clef, but I somehow managed to figure out a way to convert treble clef to alto. It was so glorious; I just wanted to keep doing it. I took a year off and studied the viola privately with Paul Silver, who was a violist in the Pittsburgh Symphony. He got me ready for college auditions, and then I went to the Cleveland Institute of Music as a violist.
Do you think that the instruments musicians choose reflect their personalities? It's a chicken-or-the-egg situation. Certain personalities are drawn to certain instruments, but the culture of those instruments also influences their personalities. The viola is famous for having a whole genre of jokes about it. They're broken down into a few categories. One is that violists are terrible musicians—they sound bad when they play. Another genre is, like, violists are stupid. And then the other one is just doing destructive things to a viola because it's such a terrible instrument that it should be destroyed. It comes from the viola being a very awkward instrument—what it takes for it to be able to sound good. What I like about violists is that they often have a very good sense of humor about being the butt of the joke.
Do you have a favorite memory from your time at the NSO? The one that will stand out to me probably as long as I live is the last concert we did with [Spanish conductor] Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. We played Pines of Rome, and we all knew that he was not well. He still had a lot of mental energy, but his body was very frail, and we later found out he had cancer. As the piece went on, he looked like he was gasping for air. He stumbled forward, and one of my colleagues had to support him, and everything stopped for a few moments. He sat down on the podium and took a moment, and then he lifted his arm and was like, “Let's go. Why did you guys stop playing?” Our principal clarinet at the time, Loren Kitt, just started playing again. We finally got to the last movement, which is this very triumphant march. At that point, he stood up and finished the piece on his feet. We were all completely emotional. It was one of those moments that you don't forget—just to see the music carrying him through that. All of us on stage wanted to lift him up.
Support your ORCHESTRA
The mission of the National Symphony Orchestra, an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is to engage audiences locally, across the country, and around the world through excellence in performance and education. Each year, the NSO offers approximately 150 concerts as well as some of the country’s most extensive community and educational programming. It regularly participates in events of national and international importance, including performances for state occasions, high-level government events, and regularly televised holiday appearances for Capitol Concerts and local radio broadcasts on WETA, making the NSO one of the most-heard orchestras in the country.
Give your support in this 95th season by becoming a Member, joining the NSO Circles, or pledging a Legacy Gift. Visit tkc.co/SupportNSO or scan the QR code.
Thank You to Kennedy Center Supporters
The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees
National Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors
Washington National Opera Board of Trustees
The Kennedy Center President’s Council
The Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts
President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts
National Committee for the Performing Arts
National Symphony Orchestra National Trustees
The Kennedy Center Circles Board
The Kennedy Center Community Advisory Board
The Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board
The Kennedy Center 50th Anniversary Committee
Corporate Donors
Individual and Foundation Donors
Endowment Gifts, Bequests, and Legacy Donors
Building the Future Campaign Donors
Visit tkc.co/Support for a full listing of donors and to learn how you can join us by becoming a Member.
Andrew Geraci
NSO at The Anthem: Home Alone In Concert
A true holiday classic, this beloved comedy features renowned composer John Williams’ charming and delightful score performed live-topicture by the NSO.
This performance takes place at The Anthem.
December 9, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
A Holiday Pops! with Melinda Doolittle
Washington, D.C.’s most dazzling holiday concert returns! This year, soul–stirring songstress Melinda Doolittle—celebrated for her irresistible, Gospel/R&B sound—lights up the festively decorated Concert Hall as special guest.
December 12, 2025 at 8 p.m.
December 13, 2025 at 2 p.m.
December 13, 2025 at 8 p.m.
Handel’s Messiah
Washington, D.C.’s glorious holiday tradition! Handel’s Messiah is as wonderful today as it was more than 280 years ago, inspiring joy from both first-time listeners and returning audiences.
December 18, 2025 at 7 p.m.
December 19, 2025 at 8 p.m.
December 20, 2025 at 8 p.m.
December 21, 2025 at 1 p.m.
2025–2026 CLASSICAL SEASON PERFORMANCE CALENDAR
Handel’s Messiah
Thu., Dec. 18, 2025 at 7 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 19, 2025 at 8 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 20, 2025 at 8 p.m.
Sun., Dec. 21, 2025 at 1 p.m.
The Rite of Spring Trifonov plays Brahms
Thu., Jan. 15, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 16, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 17, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Songs of Destiny & Fate
Thu., Jan. 22, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 23, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 24, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Le Poème Divin
Brahms’ Double Concerto
Thu., Jan. 29, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 30, 2026 at 11:30 a.m.
Sat., Jan. 31, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Shostakovich’s Eighth Abduraimov plays Tchaikovsky
Thu., Feb. 5, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 6, 2026 at 11:30 a.m.
Sat., Feb. 7, 2026 at 8 p.m.
American Mosaic
Thu., Feb. 19, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 21, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Sun., Feb. 22, 2026 at 3 p.m.
Shaham & Shaham play Reena Esmail
Robertson conducts Sibelius’ Fifth
Thu., Feb. 26, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 27, 2026 at 11:30 a.m.
Sat., Feb. 28, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Winter Daydreams: Noseda conducts Tchaikovsky’s First Trpčeski plays Saint-Saëns
Fri., Mar. 6 at 11:30 a.m.
Sat., Mar. 7 at 8 p.m.
Hahn & Woods play
Carlos Simon
Brahms’ Third
Thu., Mar. 12, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Fri., Mar. 13, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 14, 2026 at 8 p.m.
NSO Presents*
Alexandra Dovgan
Sat., Mar. 14, 2026 at 3 p.m.
Death and Transfiguration
Khachatryan plays Sibelius
Thu., Apr. 2, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Fri., Apr. 3, 2026 at 11:30 a.m. Sat., Apr. 4, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Fri., June 12, 2026 at 8 p.m. Sat., June 13, 2026 at 8 p.m.
*Please note: The National Symphony Orchestra does not perform in these concerts.
A look back at our history
1939
NSO Music Director Hans Kindler leads the Orchestra in a summer outdoor concert on a floating barge anchored at the foot of the stone steps below the Lincoln Memorial.
Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
A look back at our history
1958
Music Director Howard Mitchell conducts the NSO at Constitution Hall. Photographer unknown, Courtesy of the Kennedy Center Archives
1970s A look back at our history
NSO Music Director Antal Doráti conducts the NSO.
Photo by Richard Braaten, Courtesy of the Kennedy Center Archives
A look back at our history
1987
NSO Music Director Mstislav Rostropovich conducts the NSO with guest soloist soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, his wife.
Photo by Joan Marcus, Courtesy of the Kennedy Center Archives
A look back at our history
1996
Music man Bobby McFerrin wowed Washingtonians when he conducted the National Symphony Orchestra concerts for families and school children.
Photo by Carol Pratt, Courtesy of the Kennedy Center Archives
2000 A look back at our history
Pianists John Browning, Sara Davis Buechner, Brian Ganz, Joseph Kalichstein, Lambert Orkis, and Jeffrey Siegel play Franz Liszt’s Hexameron with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Music Director Leonard Slatkin for the Piano 2000 festival.
Photo by Carol Pratt, Courtesy of the Kennedy Center Archives
2015 A look back at our history
Kendrick Lamar and the NSO led by Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke delivered a one-night-only performance featuring some of Lamar’s biggest hits and the first-ever live performances of music from his lyrical masterpiece “To Pimp a Butterfly.”
Photo by Elman Studio, Courtesy of the Kennedy Center Archives
2022 A look back at our history
As the concluding event of Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary celebration, Leonard Bernstein’s MASS returned 51 years after its world premiere at the Center in a dynamic staging featuring the NSO, guest conductor James Gaffigan, and baritone Will Liverman in the role of Celebrant.
Photo by Scott Suchman, Courtesy of the Kennedy Center Archives
Take home... a musical memory.
Mozart Magic Flute Earrings
These exquisite earrings bring Mozart’s masterpiece to life with fluteinspired details that create a visual symphony. $42
NSO Cap and T-shirt
Our new National Symphony Orchestra cap and tee let you show your pride in our world-class symphony. $30 each
Make Your Own Music Mug
No better way to start your day than with a coffee mug imprinted with blank sheet music and sticker notes so you can compose your own melody. $20
Visit our two gift shops on Level A and in the Hall of States. Shop online 24/7 at tkc.co/shop
