May 31 and June 7 webcast for free on YouTube and via Facebook Live as part of the DSO’s Live from Orchestra Hall series
June 6 performance broadcast and streamed live on 90.9 WRCJ in Detroit and network of stations across Michigan
Tickets on sale now at dso.org
Detroit, (May 7, 2025) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will conclude its 2024–25 PVS Classical Series with two weekends of concerts at Orchestra Hall conducted by Music Director Jader Bignamini and featuring guest artists Steven Isserlis (cello) and Behzod Abduraimov (piano), respectively.
From May 30–June 1, Bignamini will lead a program centered around Robert Schumann’s beloved Cello Concerto in A minor featuring Isserlis as soloist. Franz Liszt’s Les Préludes opens the program, setting the tone for a deeply emotional, introspective, and breathtaking performance rounded out by Richard Strauss’s Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks.
A performance of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with Abduraimov will conclude this season’s PVS Classical Series on June 5–7. In celebration of a wonderful season, this program opens with the world premiere of Amplify by composer Michael Abels, who has been named the DSO’s Composer-in-Residence for the upcoming 2025–26 season. This work is a co-commission with the DSO, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Colorado Music Festival. The series wraps up with the DSO premiere of the 1904 Symphony in B minor by Leokadiya Kashperova, a brilliant, underperformed composer who was also known as Igor Stravinsky's piano teacher.
Schumann & Strauss will take place Friday, May 30 at 8 p.m., Saturday, May 31 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, June 1 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall.
Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto will take place on Thursday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, June 6 at 10:45 a.m., and Saturday, June 7 at 8 p.m. in Orchestra Hall.
The May 31 and June 7 performances will be webcast for free on YouTube and via Facebook Live as part of the DSO’s Live from Orchestra Hall series. The June 6 concert will be broadcast and streamed live on 90.9 WRCJ in Detroit and a network of stations across Michigan.
Tickets for these performances start at $20 and can be purchased at dso.org or by calling the Box Office at 313.576.5111, open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The title sponsor of the DSO’s Classical Series is PVS Chemicals, Inc. DSO Live is presented by Ford Philanthropy. Technology support comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Digital programming is produced from the Al Glancy Control Room.
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PVS Classical Series
Friday, May 30 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 31 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, June 1 at 3 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Jader Bignamini, conductor
Steven Isserlis, cello
Strauss’s Don Juan erupts with line after line of angst and virtuosity for every member of the DSO and Till Eulenspiegel gives us the quintessential soundtrack to fooling around and finding out. Liszt’s Préludes tell a different story of deep worlds and big moods. Guest soloist Steven Isserlis brings his “profoundly moving” playing (Los Angeles Times) to Schumann’s Cello Concerto.
FRANZ LISZT Les Préludes
ROBERT SCHUMANN Cello Concerto in A minor
RICHARD STRAUSS Don Juan, Op. 20
RICHARD STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
PVS Classical Series
Thursday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, June 6 at 10:45 a.m.
Saturday, June 7 at 8 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Jader Bignamini, conductor
Behzod Abduraimov, piano
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra performs Tchaikovsky’s exhilarating First Piano Concerto, with Behzod Abduraimov bringing "the magic touch" (The Times, London) to its intoxicating melodies. Music Director Jader Bignamini leads the program, which also features a world premiere by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Abels—celebrated for his scores to Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Us, and Nope—and the Detroit premiere of Leokadiya Kashperova’s lyrical Symphony in B minor.
MICHAEL ABELS Amplify
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1
LEOKADIYA KASHPEROVA Symphony in B minor
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About Jader Bignamini
Jader Bignamini was introduced as the 18th music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in January 2020, commencing with the 2020–21 season. His infectious passion and artistic excellence set the tone for the seasons ahead, creating extraordinary music and establishing a close relationship with the orchestra. During his tenure in Detroit, Bignamini has collaborated with such artists as Branford Marsalis, Daniil Trifonov, Yo-Yo Ma, Hilary Hahn, Alisa Weilerstein, and Yuja Wang, as well as composers Michael Abels and Carlos Simon, and conducted major symphonic works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler, and also Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Florence Price, and Margaret Bonds. A jazz aficionado, he has immersed himself in Detroit’s rich jazz culture and the influences of American music. In 2023, the DSO extended Bignamini’s contract for a second five-year term, through 2031.
A native of Crema, Italy, Bignamini studied at the Piacenza Music Conservatory and began his career as a musician (clarinet) with Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, later serving as the group’s resident conductor. Captivated by the works of legends like Mahler and Tchaikovsky, Bignamini explored their complexity and power, puzzling out the role that each instrument played in creating a larger-than-life sound.
In the years since, Bignamini has conducted some of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras and opera companies in venues across the globe including working with Riccardo Chailly on concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in 2013 and his concert debut at La Scala in 2015 for the opening season of La Sinfonica di Milano. Recent highlights include debuts with Opera de Paris (La Forza del Destino and Adriana Lecouvreur) and Deutsche Opera Berlin (Simon Boccanegra); debuts with Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the Washington National Symphony, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Minnesota symphonies; The Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Festival and the Grand Teton Festival; with the BBC Orchestra and London Philharmonic; with the Metropolitan Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Vienna State Opera, and Dutch National Opera (Madama Butterfly); Bayerische Staatsoper (La traviata); in Montpellier for the Festival of Radio France; La traviata in Tokyo directed by Sofia Coppola; return engagements with Oper Frankfurt (La forza del destino, Trovatore, and Carmen) and Santa Fe Opera (Rigoletto and La bohème); La traviata, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot at Arena of Verona; Il Trovatore and Aida at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera; Madama Butterfly, I Puritani, Manon Lescaut, and Otello at Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Ciro in Babilonia and Eduardo e Cristina at Rossini Opera Festival; and La bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Elisir d’amore at La Fenice in Venice.
Bignamini also has a great career in Asia, including Japan where he has conducted the Osaka Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, and opera productions of Andrea Chenier at NHK and La Traviata by Sofia Coppola with costumes by Valentino in Tokyo and on tour with Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera that is available on Blu-ray.
Recent highlights include collaborations with artists such as Alexander Gavrylyuk, Sergei Babayan, Emanuel Ax, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Simon Trpčeski, Kian Soltani, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Ray Chen, Gil Shaham, James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, María Dueñas, Karen Gomyo, Nemanja Radulović, and Leonidas Kavakos.
One of Bignamini’s greatest passions is working with the next generation of musicians, and during the summer he is a regular guest of the Interlochen Center for the Arts with the DSO and of the Asian Youth Orchestra, leading tours featuring the most talented young musicians from Asia.
About Steven Isserlis
Acclaimed worldwide for his technique and musicianship, cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a uniquely varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, educator, author, and broadcaster. He appears with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors and gives recitals in major musical centers. As a chamber musician, he has curated concert series for many prestigious venues, including London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s 92nd Street Y, and the Salzburg Festival. Unusually, he also directs chamber orchestras from the cello in classical programs. Since 1997, he has been artistic director of the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, Cornwall.
He has a strong interest in historical performance, working with many period-instrument orchestras and giving recitals with harpsichord and fortepiano. He is also a keen exponent of contemporary music and has premièred many new works, including Sir John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil, Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés, three works for solo cello by György Kurtág, and pieces by Heinz Holleger and Jörg Widmann.
Isserlis’s wide-ranging discography includes J S Bach’s complete solo cello suites (Gramophone’s Instrumental Album of the Year), Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, concertos by C P E Bach and Haydn, the Elgar and Walton concertos, the Brahms double concerto with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and late works by John Tavener (BBC Music magazine’s Premiere Award). His latest recordings, Mendelssohn Piano Trios with Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk, and Boccherini Cello Concertos, Sonatas & Quintets, were released in 2024.
He also enjoys playing for children, and has created three musical stories, with the composer Anne Dudley. As an author, his two books for children have been translated into many languages and he has also authored a commentary on Schumann’s famous Advice for Young Musicians. His latest book, a critically acclaimed companion to the Bach cello suites, is published in paperback in March 2023.
He has also devised and written two evenings of words and music, one describing the last years of Robert Schumann, the other devoted to Marcel Proust and his salons, and has presented many programs for radio, including documentaries about two of his heroes—Robert Schumann and Harpo Marx.
The recipient of many awards, his honors include a CBE in recognition of his services to music, the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau, the Piatigorsky Prize and Maestro Foundation Genius Grant (USA), the Gold Medal awarded by the Armenian Ministry of Culture, the Glashütte Original Music Festival Award (Germany), and the Wigmore Medal (UK).
Isserlis plays the ‘Marquis de Corberon’ Stradivarius of 1726, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music.
About Behzod Abduraimov
Behzod Abduraimov’s performances combine an immense depth of musicality with phenomenal technique and breathtaking delicacy. He performs with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, and his critically acclaimed recordings have set a new standard for the piano repertoire.
The 2024–25 season will see Abduraimov performing with the Bamberger Symphoniker, Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, NDR Radiophilharmonie as part of the Canary Islands Festival, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Sinfonieorchester Basel, and Berner Symphonieorchester, among others. In North America, Abduraimov appears with the Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Toronto Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony. Elsewhere, he performs with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductors with whom he will collaborate this season include Anja Bihlmaier, Lionel Bringuier, Stéphane Denève, Gustavo Gimeno, Hans Graf, Jakub Hruša, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Aziz Shokhakimov, and Otto Tausk.
In August 2024, Abduraimov marked the tenth anniversary of his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. He returned to California in November 2024 and made two important recital debuts: Cal Performances in Berkeley and Walt Disney Concert Hall presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
In past seasons Abduraimov has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras including Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Wiener Symphoniker, and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB). He has collaborated with many renowned conductors including Semyon Bychkov, Constantinos Carydis, Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, and Juraj Valčuha.
Abduraimov has appeared multiple times at Carnegie Hall, including twice last season—returning to the Stern Auditorium for a solo recital, followed by a duo recital with Daniel Lozakovich at the Weill Auditorium. He has also been presented by Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Toppan Hall, Tokyo, Seoul Arts Centre, Shanghai Concert Hall, and La Società dei Concerti di Milano. He regularly appears at the leading international festivals including Aspen, La Roque Antheron, Lucerne, Ravello, Rheingau, and Verbier.
Abduraimov’s critically acclaimed recordings have won numerous international awards including the Choc de Classica and Diapason Découverte. Shadows of My Ancestors, his second recording for Alpha Classics, which features works by Ravel, Prokofiev, and Uzbek composer Dilorom Saidaminova, was released in January 2024. It was recognized as a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, shortlisted for a Gramophone Award, and named one of Apple Music’s “10 Classical Albums You Must Hear This Month.” 2021 saw the highly successful release of his first recital album for Alpha Classics which included Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. In 2020, two of his albums were nominated for the 2020 Opus Klassik awards in multiple categories: Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under James Gaffigan, recorded on the composer’s own piano from Villa Senar for Sony Classical, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Concertgebouw Orchestra, for the RCO live label.
About the DSO
The acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. Led by Music Director Jader Bignamini since 2020, the DSO makes its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, offering a robust performance schedule that features classical, pops, jazz, and family concerts, plus community performances. Enrico Lopez-Yañez was named Principal Pops Conductor in 2023, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard serves as the orchestra’s Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair, and Tabita Berglund began her tenure as Principal Guest Conductor in the 2024–25 season. A dedication to broadcast innovation and technology began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts.
The DSO’s distinguished history of recordings—many led by its renowned music directors—spans nearly a century, beginning with the orchestra’s first 78 rpm singles with Ossip Gabrilowitsch released on the Victrola label in 1928. A steady recording output has continued since then, with highlights including more than 20 releases with Paul Paray for Mercury’s Living Presence series, and 27 under the baton of Neeme Järvi, mostly on the Chandos label. In the 1970s, the DSO took part in the historic Black Composers Series for Columbia Records led by its then-Associate Conductor Paul Freeman and later made several acclaimed recordings with Antal Doráti for the Decca label. More recently, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, the DSO recorded music by Rachmaninoff, Copland, and John Williams for the Naxos label, earning its first GRAMMY® nomination in 2017 for Copland’s Third Symphony / Three Latin American Sketches. The first recording with Jader Bignamini, of Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony, was released in March 2025 on the Pentatone label.
Since its first school concerts a century ago, and particularly since the founding of the Civic Youth Ensembles in 1970, the DSO has been a national leader in bringing the benefits of music education to students, teachers, and families in Detroit and surrounding communities. The DSO remains committed to expanding its participation in the growth and well-being of Detroit through programs like its Detroit Neighborhood Initiative—cultural events co-created with community partners and residents—and Detroit Harmony, a promise to provide an instrument and instruction to any student in the city who wants to learn. With unwavering support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to impact lives through the power of unforgettable musical experiences.