Orchestra of St. Luke’s & Jeremy Denk, piano

SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR 
(1875 – 1912) 
Ballade, Op. 33 

“At times, I could set a butcher’s bill to music.” Such was the self-confessed musical inventiveness of composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, born in 1875 in London to Daniel Taylor, a doctor from Sierra Leone, and Alice Martin. As a youth of mixed-race heritage growing up in the capital of the British Empire, Coleridge-Taylor established a reputation in London as a violin prodigy and composer by his late teens. His early output consisted of songs and chamber works. He eventually progressed to numerous orchestral and vocal works, like the famed trilogy of cantatas based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, and even an opera, Thelma, reconstructed and premiered a century after Coleridge-Taylor’s death premature death at age 37.  

Coleridge-Taylor’s enduring importance as a composer today lies not only in the richness and diversity of his music but also in the pioneering role he played in challenging racial barriers within the classical music world. His innovative blending of European classical traditions with African and African American influences foreshadowed later developments in musical cross-pollination and multiculturalism. Additionally, Coleridge-Taylor’s advocacy for social justice and equality, both through his music and his activism, resonates strongly today when conversations about representation and inclusivity are more vital than ever. His legacy serves as a powerful reminder of the transformative potential of art in addressing social issues and fostering cultural understanding across boundaries. 

The Ballade, Op. 33, began as a commission for Coleridge-Taylor from Britain’s famed Three Choirs Festival following the endorsement of composer Edward Elgar and publisher August Jaeger. The opportunity was momentous for a young artist fresh out of the Royal College of Music. The premiere in September 1898 in Gloucester, under Coleridge-Taylor’s own baton, received a welcome reception from the players and the audience. The composer conducted the work himself frequently over the next decade.  

The Ballade, cast in A minor, opens with a grand Romantic flourish and an agitated rhythmic theme in the home key. After the initial climax, Coleridge-Taylor transitions into a second musical idea that is more lyrically expansive and romantic. The score oscillates between these two contrasting themes, creating a turbulent struggle before the main theme reasserts itself in a final sforzando burst of energy.  

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 
(1770 – 1827) 
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 

The concertos of Ludwig van Beethoven remain testaments to his unique strain of musical virtuosity, imagination, and ambition. The works for piano and orchestra cast especially long shadows for composers and performers alike, filled with episodes of fiery dramatics paired with passages demanding intense sensitivity. These qualities resound within Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, composed between 1805 and 1806 and dedicated to the composer’s patron and friend, Archduke Rudolf of Austria.  

The work was first heard in a private performance in March 1807 at the residence of Beethoven’s other great patron, Prince Lobkowitz. Its public premiere occurred during the mammoth “Akademie” benefit Beethoven organized for himself at the Theater an der Wien on December 22, 1808. The Concerto’s debut siblings on that occasion included the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the Choral Fantasy in C minor. The over-ambitious scope of the program, the harried quality of the orchestra, and the chilly temperature inside the theater were already against Beethoven. The added novelty of its composition meant that the Fourth Piano Concerto was coldly received, a disappointment for Beethoven’s final public performance as a soloist with an orchestra.  

The formal uniqueness of the Fourth Piano Concerto is evident in the first movement, Allegro moderato, with its subtle but nevertheless assertive opening statement in G major by the piano alone. This is one of the earliest instances of the soloist in a concerto being heard before the orchestra makes any statement. Moreover, the writing sounds like the player is playing an improvisation, not a concerto. The entrance of the orchestra commences a sophisticated interplay of ensemble and soloist, augmented by Beethoven’s adroit modulations and intricate writing for all the voices, save the timpani and trumpets, which are silent until the final movement. The tone overall is a distinctive branch of Beethovenian heroism, with the piano growing ever more confident as the first movement unfurls itself.  

Beethoven employs a startling scheme for the second movement, Andante con moto. Merely a fraction of the length of the first, it is an extended dialogue for the pianist and the string section alone. The orchestral writing begins heavy and severe, diminishing in its vehemence as the serenity of the piano part grows ever more dominant. Beethoven does not leave a pause between the second and third movements. Instead, the strings, which end the second movement in a quiet statement of E minor, quietly state a distinctly rhythmic theme in C major with almost impish insistence, which the piano takes up and embroiders further. These ideas 

become the recurring episodes in this rollicking rondo form movement. 

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
(1841 – 1904) 
Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 

The Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 by Antonín Dvořák is emblematic of the Bohemian composer’s sense of orchestral flair and symphonic invention. Written swiftly in the autumn of 1889 at Dvořák’s estate in Vysoká, the symphony commemorated his entry into the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and Arts. It premiered the following February in Prague under the composer’s direction.  

The Symphony shows a poised maturity in Dvořák’s approach to large-scale works. It builds on the innovations of the preceding symphonies and reflects his growing international prestige as a composer and musical force. Its rhapsodic musical language harkens back to the vocal music of Slavic folk traditions and their surrounding natural environments. Antagonisms towards Dvořák’s Czech roots had held back his earlier symphonies from performance and success in Austria and Germany. His Sixth Symphony, for example, would have been premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra had anti-Czech sentiments not scuttled this plan.  

The Eighth Symphony concurred with a new period of confidence in Dvořák’s career, as its ebullience shows. Dvořák’s Eighth presents a continual array of surprises within the conventions of the Romantic-era symphony. The first movement begins with a melancholy musical idea in G minor for low strings, brass, and woodwinds. Then, through a series of modulations, Dvořák introduces a joyously bucolic theme evocative of avian song in the home key of G major. This, in turn, unleashes a tempest of thematic material, with the opening melancholic theme returning to herald the major transitional points of the movement into the development section and recapitulation.  

The pastoral mood continues in the second movement, marked Adagio. Here, Dvořák freely employs a rondo structure, where the thematic idea of the first section is brought back between intervening episodes. Dance forms abound in the subsequent Scherzo movement. The main idea here is a dance evoking forms like the waltz or the more provincial Ländler. For the musical idea of the central triosection, Dvořák adapted an aria from his 1874 opera The Stubborn Lovers.  

After a subdued ending to the third movement, Dvořák opens the finale with a bright brass fanfare, summoning not aggression but rather merriment. Cellos announce the principal theme of the movement, which then launches into a highly multifaceted series of variations that vary in speed, texture, and orchestration. As in the first movement, Dvořák employs a modified sonata form architecture overall, reprising material for a thrilling conclusion.   

– Ryan M. Prendergast

Ryan M. Prendergast is an assistant teaching professor in the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University.

Jeremy Denk is one of America’s foremost pianists, proclaimed by The New York Times “a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs.” Denk is also a New York Times bestselling author, winner of both the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  

In the 2023–24 season, Denk premieres a new concerto written for him by Anna Clyne, co-commissioned and performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra led by Fabio Luisi, the City of Birmingham Symphony led by Kazuki Yamada, and the New Jersey Symphony led by Markus Stenz. He also returns to London’s Wigmore Hall for a three-concert residency, performing Bach’s Solo Partitas, as well as collaborating with the Danish String Quartet, and performing works by Charles Ives with violinist Maria Włoszczowska. He further reunites with Krzysztof Urbański to perform with the Antwerp Symphony and again with the Danish String Quartet in Copenhagen at their festival Series of Four. In the U.S., he performs a program focusing on female composers, and continues his exploration of Bach with multiple performances of the Partitas. His collaborations include performances with violinist Maria Włoszczowska in Philadelphia and New York, and, in the summer, returning to perform with his longtime collaborators Steven Isserlisand Joshua Bell. He closes the season with the San Diego Symphony and Rafael Payare with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. 

Denk is also known for his original and insightful writing on music, which Alex Ross praises for its “arresting sensitivity and wit.” His New York Times bestselling memoir Every Good Boy Does Fine was published to universal acclaim by Random House in 2022, with features on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR’s Fresh Air, The New York Times, and The Guardian. Denk also wrote the libretto for a comic opera presented by Carnegie Hall, Cal Performances, and the Aspen Festival, and his writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New Republic, The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and on the front page of The New York Times Book Review. 

Denk has performed multiple times at Carnegie Hall and in recent years has worked with such orchestras as Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra. Further afield, he has performed multiple times at the BBC Proms and Klavierfestival Ruhr, and appeared in such halls as the Köln Philharmonie, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Boulez Saal in Berlin. He has also performed extensively across the U.K., including recently with the London Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and play-directing the Britten Sinfonia. Last season’s highlights include his performance of the Well-Tempered Klavier Book 1 at the Barbican in London, and performances of John Adams’ Must the Devil Have All The Great Tunes? with the Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, and Seattle Symphony, as well as a return to the San Francisco Symphony to perform Messiaen under Esa Pekka Salonen. 

Denk’s latest album of Mozart piano concertos was released in 2021 on Nonesuch Records and was deemed “urgent and essential” by BBC Radio 3. His recording of the Goldberg Variations for Nonesuch Records reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Charts, and his recording of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 111 paired with Ligeti’s Études was named one of the best discs of the year by the New Yorker, NPR, and the Washington Post, while his account of the Beethoven sonata was selected by BBC Radio 3’s Building a Library as the best available version recorded on modern piano. 

To learn more about Jeremy Denk, please visit his website. 

Devoted to promoting a life-long enthusiasm for music, Thomas Wilkins brings energy and commitment to audiences of all ages.  He is hailed as a master at communicating and connecting with audiences.  He is the Principal Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Boston Symphony’s Artistic Advisor, Education and Community Engagement; Principal Guest Conductor of the Virginia Symphony, and holds Indiana University’s Henry A. Upper chair of Orchestral Conducting established by the late Barbara and David Jacobs. At the end of the 2020-21 season, he completed his long and successful tenure as Music Director of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.  

Other past positions have included resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony and Florida Orchestra (Tampa Bay), and associate conductor of the Richmond (VA) Symphony. He also has served on the music faculties of North Park University (Chicago), the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.   

Wilkins has guest conducted throughout the United States with orchestras that include the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston, National, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Cincinnati Symphonies, and the Minnesota, Philadelphia, and Cleveland Orchestras to name a very few. 

In 2022, Wilkins was the recipient of the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award and in that same year, the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards presented him with their Lifetime Achievement Award for Music. Other past awards include an honorary Doctorate of Arts from the Boston Conservatory and the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society conferred by Boston’s Longy School of Music.  

His commitment to the community has been demonstrated by his participation on several boards of directors, including the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, the Charles Drew Health Center (Omaha), the Center Against Spouse Abuse in Tampa Bay, and the Museum of Fine Arts as well as the Academy Preparatory Center both in St. Petersburg, FL. Currently, he serves as chairman of the board for the Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund and as national ambassador for the non-profit World Pediatric Project headquartered in Richmond, VA, which provides children throughout Central America and the Caribbean with critical surgical and diagnostic care. 

A native of Norfolk, VA, Wilkins is a graduate of the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.  He and his wife are the proud parents of twin daughters. 

Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL) performs and produces in a variety of formats throughout New York City, including orchestral and chamber music series on each of Carnegie Hall’s iconic stages, programs focused on contemporary composers presented throughout the five boroughs, collaborations with Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center, a composition institute, and much more. Many of OSL’s performances are presented for free through its education and community engagement programs, reaching over 12,000 students and families annually with accessible, interactive student concerts, a thriving youth orchestra, and mentorship programs for emerging players. OSL built and operates The DiMenna Center in midtown Manhattan — the city’s only rehearsal, recording, and performance space built specially for classical music — where it hosts thousands of musicians and audience members year-round.

For more information and where they are playing next, please visit their website.