Shelley, Ehnes, Altstaedt: Clara, Robert, Johannes: Coda

Three things to know:

Explore the personal and artistic ties that bound three giants of German Romanticism: Johannes Brahms and Clara and Robert Schumann. A pair of concertos in this program represents the final works Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann ever wrote for orchestra. Clara Schumann wasn’t just a talented composer—she was one of Europe’s most in-demand piano soloists for 63 years.

The relationship between Johannes Brahms and the Schumanns—composer-pianists Clara and Robert—is one of the most moving in music history. As friends, romantic partners, and close collaborators, their intertwined lives produced some of the most mesmerizing and emotionally vulnerable music of the 19th century.

Violinist James Ehnes and cellist Nicolas Altstaedt share the spotlight as soloists in Brahms’s Double Concerto—a work teeming with drama and joy in which violin and cello interweave their voices with playfulness and tender affection. And although Robert Schumann’s only concerto for violin and orchestra went unperformed for 80 years, we have the chance to experience its profound lyricism in the hands of Ehnes, who sensitively portrays the different characters of the music.

After marrying Robert, Clara Schumann began writing intimate songs for voice and piano to express a blossoming love for her new husband. Hear a selection of these poignant songs reimagined by Canadian composers Sarah Slean and Cecilia Livingston, who draw from the orchestra’s rich palette of musical colours to showcase the breadth of Clara’s expressive voice.