| Thursday 01 October 2026 | 19:00 |
| Barber, Samuel (1910-1981) | Second Essay For Orchestra, Op.17 | |
| Zinovjev, Sauli (b. 1988) | A Savage Beat | |
| Shostakovich, Dmitri (1906-1975) | Symphony no. 5 in D minor, Op.47 |
| Marin Alsop | Conductor |
| Vivi Vassileva | Percussion |
| Ung Filharmoni | |
| Oslo Philharmonic |
Vivi Vassileva is the soloist in the Norwegian premiere of Sauli Zinovjev's percussion concerto A Savage Beat, inspired by Indigenous peoples' ritual use of drums and rhythms. Samuel Barber's Essay No. 2 was written shortly before he was called up for service in the Second World War. Musicians from Ung Filharmoni sit side by side with the orchestra's musicians in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5. Marin Alsop conducts this concert marking the Ung Filharmoni's 10th anniversary.
What happens when music cannot say what it wants to? When notes must carry a double message, when rhythms weave together the spiritual and the aggressive, and when lyrical lines conceal unrest beneath the surface? In this concert, we encounter three composers who wrote in the shadow of something greater, whether it was a world war, their own regime, or something as simple as the role of a musical instrument in people's lives.
