Saturday, October 25, 2025
8:00 PM
Yuja Wang is the soloist in Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto—a work by turns acerbic and melodic—and Domingo Hindoyan returns to Symphony Hall to lead the BSO in Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from On The Town and Copland’s Third Symphony.
Domingo Hindoyan, conductor
Yuja Wang, piano
Leonard BERNSTEIN Three Dance Episodes from On The Town
Sergei PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 2
Aaron COPLAND Symphony No. 3
Learn more about the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2025-2026 season on their site.
Conductor Domingo Hindoyan talks with CRB's Brian McCreath about the genesis of this program, his interpretation of Bernstein's and Copland's work, and his positions at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Opera.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):
Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Domingo Hindoyan, who's here with the Boston Symphony for the second time. And Mr. Hindoyan, it's great to have you and thanks for your time today.
Domingo Hindoyan Thank you, Brian, for having me.
Brian McCreath I'd love to talk about the way that this program came together because the first and last pieces, the Bernstein and the Copland, are such dynamite pieces from almost exactly the same time. How was it that you and the BSO decided on those two pieces to do this program?
Domingo Hindoyan Well, like always, when we construct and we build programs with orchestras, it's part of their suggestions, BSO suggestions, together with my thoughts, and at the end there is a balance, and we find what we need to do. I think the program is a beautiful balance with a beautiful shape, the Bernstein and the Copland, both premiered in the same year, in 1946, and in the middle this beautiful, virtuoso, and dramatic Prokofiev concerto.
Brian McCreath Well, and certainly both of those pieces, well, all three of them really, have deep connections to the Boston Symphony itself. But tell me about your personal history with the Third Symphony by Copland. Is this a piece that you've conducted a lot?
Domingo Hindoyan Well, I will be conducting now as a second time. I first did it at the beginning of last season with the BBC Symphony in London, at The Barbican, and it's a symphony that, honestly, I love so much because the message, the content it has, and the virtuosity the orchestra requires, difficulty, the idiomatic way that Copland finds how to phrase, the way he uses the brass section, and of course the famous fanfare included in the last movement with a beautiful transition from the third movement to the fourth and then we all of a sudden find ourselves in the middle of [the Fanfare for the Common Man] and say, "Wow, it's there!" Of course we, as conductors, analyzing the piece, we know the fanfare pattern. It's already from the first movement present. But it's just a beautiful symphony. And coupled together with the Bernstein, we have the whole character of the human being. You know, you have in the Bernstein, you have this nervosity, craziness, busy, we don't have time to think about life, not time to think about deep things, it's about living, getting crazy and enjoying life, and crazy and noisy with fun. And then you find the Copland that transcends that and is more on the dignity, on the humbleness, and on the whole meaning of being a human. So these two sides are so beautiful to have. And the Prokofiev gives, of course, this dark color that contrasts and makes us understand many things from both pieces.
Brian McCreath I love that way of framing the Bernstein and the Copland together. That's a really wonderful way to put it, that you're encompassing sort of all of human nature in those two pieces. That's terrific. Have you worked with Yuja Wang before?
Domingo Hindoyan It's the first time we worked together. Of course, I know her, and I have followed the fantastic career and listened to many of the recordings. By the way, the Prokofiev Second Concerto, the recording she has is with the Simón Bolívar Orchestra in Venezuela. It was made in Venezuela, this recording. So, I was not there. I was not present at the time when she was there recording. But I enjoyed very much the recording. And it's so easy to work with her. I mean, such a great musician to work with, and it is a big pleasure for me.
Brian McCreath And that is the area that you came from. You were part of El Sistema in Venezuela, not for that recording, but that's where your background comes from.
Domingo Hindoyan Yeah, absolutely, in Venezuela, since many years already, it's kind of the main place to be to learn music. And I grew up there. I played in the youth orchestras. I played the Simón Bolívar Orchestra as well. I left when I was 20 to continue my studies of violin and then later conducting in Europe. But I've always been in touch, and I'm very proud to be part of it.
Brian McCreath Now, you are the chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and you're soon to be the chief conductor of the LA Opera, which is really exciting because this opens up the symphonic and the operatic avenues of your life on a regular basis. But maybe more importantly, your wife is one of today's great singers, Sonya Yoncheva. And I've gotta ask about your life at home, where you live in Switzerland. Is music a part of your conversations when you're at home? Do you talk to each other about particular pieces? Do you inspire each other with certain ideas or performances? Or do you just never talk about music because it's work?
Domingo Hindoyan No, no, we absolutely do, and music is just our life. And we talk about music in all the senses of the word, I mean, in the content, in music itself, but also in what surrounds the music, and as a family, how we organize our life around music. And then repertoire, I share my repertoire with her, she shares her repertoire with me, and sometimes we get one piece, and we get inspired, one of her operas, or my operas or my symphonies, and we get ideas and we discuss. And she has very strong ideas on everything and is a fantastic musician, so I enjoy very much exchanging with her about her ideas, what she thinks, and about breathing, about the silence, about how to phrase. And I share and I say my opinion, and she tells me. We are not always in agreement, but that's the beauty about it, and then we learn a lot from each other.
And of course, concerning Liverpool and LA, it's just fantastic. I mean, for me, I've been always sharing my life between symphony orchestras and opera life. And for me it's just my vitamin. I need it, I need both of them. And I'm very lucky and proud to be the Chief Conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic, where I'm there often and we have a lot of recordings. We're now doing a beautiful series of music of the Americas. Of course, the first country was Venezuela, not a surprise. But many other recordings are coming around our continent, USA included, and from North to South, and it's a beautiful project. And we do German music, and we record a lot. So that's beautiful, and the Liverpool audience is really warm, and they love it and are very proud, as much as they are from the football team, the soccer team, as we say here. They are proud of the orchestra too. And the LA Opera, I'm very much looking forward. It's just a dream come true, of course, in the sense that I'm an opera conductor as well, and to be in charge of a house like this one, I'm allowed to let my imagination fly and try to achieve beautiful projects with great singers and a fantastic orchestra in a fantastic city.
Brian McCreath A very culturally vibrant city for sure, absolutely. Well Domingo Hindoyan, it's great to have you back at Symphony Hall, thanks so much for your time today.
Domingo Hindoyan Thank you, Brian.