BISS PLAYS BEETHOVEN

Vivid narratives animate a program that is at once intimate, playful, and intense. In the Piano Concerto No. 4, Ludwig van Beethoven diverges from his hallmark heroism with a piece that transforms solitary introspection into ebullient joy. The Monterey Symphony is joined by pianist Jonathan Biss, an artist the Chicago Tribune calls "one of today's foremost Beethoven exponents." A mischievous trickster gets himself in hot water in Richard Strauss's dazzling tone poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. The concert concludes with a disturbing tale of violence and obsession in the suite from Béla Bartók's expressionist ballet The Miraculous Mandarin. - Christopher Anderson-Bazzoli

PROGRAM
89-minute program, includes a 20-minute intermission

BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto No. 4, in G
Jonathan Biss, piano

— intermission —

Richard STRAUSS
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

BARTÓK
The Miraculous Mandarin Suite