Rafael Payare and Shostakovich’s Awe-Inspiring Symphony No. 8
While the influence of Viennese Classicism is certainly palpable in Beethoven’s First Symphony, its fiery score teems with ground-breaking ideas like the seeds of a style that would assert itself ever more vigorously over the years. The driving force of Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony is something else entirely: brutal, dreadful, ruthless, a striking work summoning the devastating drama of wartime, with irony emerging as a response to suffering.
While the influence of Viennese Classicism is certainly palpable in Beethoven’s First Symphony, its fiery score teems with ground-breaking ideas like the seeds of a style that would assert itself ever more vigorously over the years. The driving force of Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony is something else entirely: brutal, dreadful, ruthless, a striking work summoning the devastating drama of wartime, with irony emerging as a response to suffering.
Artists
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Rafael Payare, conductor
Works
Beethoven, Symphony no. 1 in C major, op. 21 (26 min.)
Intermission (20 min.)
Chostakovitch, Symphony no. 8 in C minor, op. 65 (61 min.)
Rafael Payare
Music and Artistic Director of the OSMWith his innate musicianship, gift for communication, and irresistibly joyous spirit, conductor Rafael Payare is Music and Artistic Director of both Canada’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and California’s San Diego Symphony (SDSO), as well as Principal Conductor of Virginia’s Castleton Festival and Conductor Laureate of Northern Ireland’s Ulster Orchestra. Payare is celebrated for his expertise in late Romantic repertoire while also cultivating the next generation of composers with regular commissions and performances of new works. A veteran of Venezuela’s El Sistema program – in which he began playing horn at the age of 14 – and 2012 first prize winner at Denmark’s Malko Competition for Young Conductors, Payare remains dedicated to inspiring younger musicians, regularly working with youth orchestras and establishing mentorship programs like El Sistema OSM and the SDSO Conducting Fellowship. Payare resides in San Diego and Montreal with his wife, acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and their two young children.
