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PVS Classical

The Power of Sound: Beethoven & Adams

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The Power of Sound: Beethoven & Adams

Friday, May 28—Saturday, May 29, 2027

Friday, May 28—Saturday, May 29, 2027
Orchestra Hall
2 hours
Tickets start at {{ vm.min_price_formatted }}

Live music has a magical power: time can seem to slow, speed, or shudder. Wagner’s luminous Lohengrin Prelude captures radiant stillness, while Paul Lewis brings trademark clarity and patience to Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. John Adams, inspired by the expressiveness of Wagner’s music, propels his epic Harmonielehre into pulsing, ecstatic motion. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Pre-concert Talk
Join us one hour prior to most classical performances for a 30-minute pre-concert talk. Pre-concert talks are an opportunity for conductors, musicians, and other experts to share more about the music and enhance your connection to the evening's program. You will get a glimpse into the composer's inspiration, the story behind a work, what to look for in a soloist's performance, and more! With a deeper understanding of the music, your symphony experience will be more engaging and even more memorable. Please note, our pre-concert talks are scheduled for every PVS Classical Series performance, except Friday morning Coffee Concerts.

Insider tip: Seating for pre-concert talks is general admission in Orchestra Hall. Try out a different seat or section from your ticket for a new perspective. 

Program

Richard Wagner
Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
John Adams
Harmonielehre

Artists

Tabita Berglund

conductor

Tabita Berglund has established herself as one of the most in-demand conductors of her generation. With a charismatic style that combines elegance, verve and precision—eliciting “exceptional music-making” (The Arts Desk)—she collaborates with leading orchestras worldwide. Berglund is Principal Guest Conductor of both the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Dresdner Philharmonie, having been appointed to each position following her respective debut.

Berglund commences 2025–26 with Dresdner Philharmonie’s season-opening concerts—her inaugural engagement as the orchestra’s new Principal Guest. Notable debut appearances across the season include Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Sydney and Melbourne symphony orchestras, while returns include Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. Among the highlights of Berglund’s second season in Detroit is a specially curated two-week Northern Lights Festival.

Berglund regularly collaborates with leading international soloists; recent and forthcoming partnerships include Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Hélène Grimaud, Pekka Kuusisto, Leila Josefowicz, Augustin Hadelich, Truls Mørk, Kirill Gerstein, Nicolas Altstaedt, Håkan Hardenberger, Alexander Malofeev and Camilla Tilling, to name a few. Her 2025–26 programming reflects her breadth of repertoire interests, from Mozart and Schubert to Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Mahler, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Lutosławski, among others, and continues her championing of Nordic compatriots such as Thorvaldsdottir, Sibelius, and Irgens-Jensen.

Recent engagements include Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Iceland Symphony Orchestra, among others. Among Berglund’s past festival appearances are Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada and Grafenegg, while recent opera and ballet productions include Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Garsington Opera, 2024) and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, 2024). In Summer 2024 Berglund chaired the jury for the grand finale of the Eurovision Young Musicians competition, broadcast live on television throughout Europe via the major networks.

Berglund studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music, first as a cellist with Truls Mørk and later orchestral conducting with Ole Kristian Ruud. She played regularly with the Oslo and Bergen Philharmonic orchestras as well as the Trondheim Soloists before conducting became her main focus. Her first titled position was as Principal Guest Conductor of Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra (2021–2024). Her debut CD, with Oslo Philharmonic and violinist Sonoko Miriam Welde, was released in 2021 (LAWO) and nominated for a Norwegian GRAMMY® (Spellemann) in the 2022 Classical Music category.

Paul Lewis

piano

Paul Lewis is internationally regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. His numerous awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year, two Edison awards, three Gramophone awards, the Diapason D'or de l'Annee, the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, and the South Bank Show Classical Music award. In 2016 he was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list, and holds honorary doctorates from Southampton University and Edge Hill University.

He performs regularly as soloist with the world's great orchestras and is a frequent guest at the most prestigious international festivals, including Lucerne, Mostly Mozart (New York), Tanglewood, Schubertiade, Salzburg, Edinburgh, and London’s BBC Proms where in 2010 he became the first pianist to perform a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle in one season. His recital career takes him to venues such as London's Royal Festival Hall, Alice Tully and Carnegie Hall in New York, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Zurich, Palau de Musica Barcelona, Symphony Hall Chicago, Oji Hall in Tokyo, and Melbourne’s Recital Centre.

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