Colorado Music Festival: Jan Lisiecki Plays Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto

"The Festival and Music Director Peter Oundjian continue a cycle of all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos, each performed by the award-winning Jan Lisiecki. The Fifth and final, best known as the 'Emperor' Concerto, was written so close to the action of the Napoleonic Wars that artillery fire drove Beethoven to take cover in a basement in order to protect his hearing. This program also closes the Festival’s celebration of composer Vaughan Williams’ 150th birthday with a performance of his serene Fifth Symphony; premiering in 1943, the Fifth looks backwards at the war as well as forward, toward the welcome possibilities of peace."

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Symphony No. 5
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73 (“Emperor”)