Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin will lead the Philadelphia Orchestra in three mighty programs, bringing their 2024-25 season of live concerts in the Kimmel Center’s Marian Anderson Hall to a fiery finale.

Nezet-Seguin will conduct a “one-night-only” performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Choral” Symphony No. 9 Thursday, May 29, at 7:30 p.m. Vocal soloists include soprano Leah Hawkins, mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, tenor Issachah Savage, and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny.

Although Beethoven regularly broke the classical mold with all nine of his symphonies, perhaps none accomplished this feat more dramatically than did the Ninth. Although its first three movements fit relatively well into the structure of a symphony, the Ninth’s final movement is a beast never seen or heard before in classical music. It’s virtually an entire symphony in and of itself, with its first half purely instrumental and its second an extended choral repetition and variation on the first portion. 

The fourth movement’s triumphant exaltation of Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” has become a musical rallying cry for individuals and entire nations struggling for freedom against the forces of tyranny. Many consider it a stirring piece of music. Our maestro couldn’t have made a more fitting choice.

Opening the concert will be a performance of Florence Price’s “Piano Concerto in One Movement,” featuring Laura Downes as soloist.

Richard Wagner often spoke of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as one of the major inspirations for his series of powerful music dramas. Of all of these works for the operatic stage, perhaps none achieves a higher stature than “Tristan und Isolde.” 

Composed between the first and second, and then the third and fourth segments of his “Ring of the Nebelungen,” “Tristan” epitomizes Wagner’s use of the fullest spectrums of music and drama to project his interpretation of the world in which we live.

Nezet-Seguin will be joined by soprano Nina Stemme and tenor Stuart Skelton in the title roles Sunday, June 2, and Sunday, June 8, at 2 p.m. for this concert performance.

The season’s “Grand Finale” will feature Nezet-Seguin on the podium with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason as soloist in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1. The program also includes Saint-Georges’ Symphony No. 2, Sergei Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony No. 1, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 (“Haffner”). Performances are Friday, June 6, at 2 p.m., and Saturday, June 7, at 8 p.m.

For ticket information, visit www.philorch.org/2425season.

Chamber “Orchestra in the Garden”

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia will extend its 2024-25 season with a series of concerts entitled “Orchestra in the Garden.” The dates and sites are: Thursday, June 12, in the Andalusia Historic House, Gardens and Arboretum; Saturday, June 14, in Stoneleigh: A Natural Garden; Wednesday, June 18, in Bartram’s Garden; Thursday, June 26, in Bartram’s Garden; Friday, June 27, in Esperanza Arts Center; and Saturday, June 28, in Stoneleigh: A Natural Garden. 

For more information, visit www.chamberorchestra.org.

You can contact NOTEWORTHY at Michael-caruso@comcast.net.