Kuusisto Plays Nielsen with Storgårds and the BSO

Published March 2, 2024 at 8:00 PM EST

A collage of John Storgårds and Pekka Kuusisto. Storgårds (left) stands in a teal room and leans against a wall. He wears a black suit and black shirt. He has brown hair that fades to gray and gray stubble on his face. He looks at the camera with his dark brown eyes and smiles softly. Kuusisto (right) stands in a dark pink room holding his violin. He wears an oversized black t-shirt and round, clear glasses. He has short blond hair and stands with his eyes closed, listening to whatever he's plucking on his violin. The center of the collage blends the teal and dark pink in a way that mimics the northern lights. — Conductor John Storgårds; violinist Pekka Kuusisto

Saturday, March 2, 2024
8:00pm

Encore broadcast on Monday, March 11

Finnish conductor John Storgårds leads the first of two BSO programs in the Music of the Midnight Sun festival, an exploration of Nordic music and storytelling. Outi Tarkiainen’s Midnight Sun Variations transports you to her homeland of Finland. Evoking similarly vivid soundscapes, the BSO performs three tone poems by Jean Sibelius based on Finnish legends. And Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto makes his BSO debut in the orchestra’s first-ever performances of the great Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s Violin Concerto.

John Storgårds, conductor
Pekka Kuusisto, violin

Outi TARKIAINEN Midnight Sun Variations
Carl NIELSEN Violin Concerto
Jean SIBELIUS The Oceanides and The Bard
SIBELIUS Tapiola