Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. The composer's son, Maxim Shostakovich, opens the concert with the vivacious Festive Overture, written in only three days to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution. The Second Piano Concerto is dedicated to Maxim and he gave the premiere in 1957 when he was just 19 years old, two years younger than this evening's mercurial soloist, Natasha Paremski. Shostakovich's powerful Fifth is the best-known of all his symphonies; its incredible finale hinting at the triumph of culture and optimism over the barbarism of Stalin and his regime of terror.