Los Angeles Philharmonic

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake bursts with unflinching beauty, passion, and drama that is known the world over, but when Elim Chan performed a version of the suite in San Francisco last year she compiled herself and structured almost like a symphony, critics praised Chan’s ability to transform the familiar into something both new and timeless. With the ability to “bring out the best in a top-rank orchestra” and a presence that is “as communicative as a dancer,” the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Chan shaped Tchaikovsky “as if she were born to conduct ballet,” making her performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic a can’t-miss occasion.

Like Swan Lake, Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto exudes unapologetic Romantic indulgence—though with more of Liszt’s trademark showmanship and musical fireworks. Yefim Bronfman performed the concerto at age 15 in an audition that helped catapult his career. Since then, Bronfman has shown an uncommon attunement for the piece’s technical and artistic challenges, leading Bachtrack to say Liszt’s “manic, head-banging moments...were delivered with punch and flair, but it was the poetry [Bronfman] found in the concerto’s opening sections which made one listen with new ears.”