Hill Auditorium
London Symphony Orchestra
with Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Individual event tickets available 7/28
British composer Elizabeth Maconchy’s Nocturne opens the second of two Ann Arbor concert programs with the London Symphony Orchestra. Written in 1950, the work is an evocative sound portrait of a landscape at moonlight.
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein returns to the Hill Auditorium stage as soloist for Elgar’s iconic Cello Concerto, written in 1919, not long after the end of World War I. Elgar scholar Michael Kennedy describes the work as conveying the impression of “a man wearied with the world … finding solace in the beauty of music.” Richard Strauss’s glorious tone poem Ein Heldenleben closes the program with its sensational color and imaginative orchestration — a musical depiction of a hero constantly at battle with its critics.
Program
Elizabeth Maconchy Nocturne
Edward Elgar Cello Concerto in e minor, Op. 85
Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
The LSO’s performances at UMS are the center of a larger residency that focuses on arts and wellness, including musical engagements on the wards of U-M hospitals, community work addressing social isolation and loneliness, and additional opportunities to be announced.
The London Symphony Orchestra will also perform with violinist Maxim Vengerov on Wednesday, March 3.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
PERMANENTLY ENDOWED SUPPORT
- Permanently Endowed Support for Sir Antonio Pappano: The Menakka and Essel Bailey Endowment Fund for International Artistic Brilliance
PRESENTING SPONSOR
- Max Wicha and Sheila Crowley
SUPPORTING SPONSOR
- Debra Weinstein and Tony Rosenzweig
Buy Tickets
London Symphony Orchestra
with Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Hill Auditorium
Season ticket packages on sale now!
Individual event tickets available 7/28
CHOOSE A PERFORMANCE:
Or call the ticket office at 734-764-2538
* Student, Senior and Group Discounts may be available
One of today’s most sought-after conductors, Sir Antonio Pappano is renowned for his charismatic leadership and inspiring performances across both symphonic and operatic repertoires. He is Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and Conductor Laureate of the Royal Opera and Ballet Covent Garden and Music Director Emeritus of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, having held the position of Music Director at both institutions from 2002-2024 and 2005-2023 respectively. Nurtured as a pianist, repetiteur and assistant conductor at many of the most important opera houses of Europe and North America, including at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and several seasons at the Bayreuth Festival as musical assistant to Daniel Barenboim, Pappano was appointed Music Director of Oslo’s Den Norske Opera in 1990, and from 1992-2002 served as Music Director of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. From 1997-1999 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Alisa Weilerstein is one of the foremost cellists of our time. Known for her consummate artistry, emotional investment and rare interpretive depth, she was recognized with a MacArthur “genius grant” Fellowship in 2011. Today her career is truly global in scope, taking her to the most prestigious international venues for solo recitals, chamber concerts and concerto collaborations with all the preeminent conductors and orchestras worldwide.
“Weilerstein is a throwback to an earlier age of classical performers: not content merely to serve as a vessel for the composer’s wishes, she inhabits a piece fully and turns it to her own ends,” marvels The New York Times. “Weilerstein’s cello is her id. She doesn’t give the impression that making music involves will at all. She and the cello seem simply to be one and the same,” agrees the Los Angeles Times. As the UK’s Telegraph put it, “Weilerstein is truly a phenomenon.”
Love great music, theater, and dance?
Surely your inbox has room for one more email... Sign up for notifications on upcoming events and season updates.