Overview
Two Fifths: two symphonic triumphs. Beethoven’s Fifth represents the human capacity for heroism in the face of adversity—or, as he put it, “through suffering to joy.” Shostakovich’s Fifth was a huge hit, and kept him alive and out of the Gulag, but it's too slippery and ambivalent to function as triumphalist propaganda.
Jaap van Zweden’s appearance is supported by the Louise M. Davies Guest Conductor Fund.
Open rehearsals are endowed by a bequest from The Estate of Katharine Hanrahan.
