Evgeny Kissin and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra

Under the greatest pressure, Shostakovich delivered his most supreme masterpiece. Condemned by the Soviet powers after his satirical opera Lady Macbeth, Shostakovich was ordered to write a symphony rejoicing in Stalin’s reign of terror. The result was a score poetic, sardonic and climactic that ends with a forced smile that proves the most shattering of climaxes. Before it, giant of the Russian piano school Evgeny Kissin joins Marios Papadopoulos for Rachmaninov’s dignified Piano Concerto No. 3, in which a lone virtuoso thunders against a surging orchestra in a heart-stopping narrative. John Rutter's new work written for the Orchestra's 25th birthday kicks off this titanic season opening at Oxford Town Hall.