West Road Concert Hall, 21 Nov 2026
Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 is one of the great musical expressions of the postwar Soviet Era. Written around the time of Stalin’s death in the early 1950s, the piece was purposed by the composer to be a depiction of the trauma and banality of death during his regime.
Internationally acclaimed conductor Duncan Ward takes the baton to lead the Cambridge University Orchestra through this demanding composition. The Symphony is paired with another Russian work, Rachmaninov’s 4th Piano concerto. Pianist Aidan Módica (Christ’s, 2023) takes to the stage, having jointly won the University’s 2026 Concerto Competition. Rachmaninov’s 1941 revision of the earlier 1926 work makes for a slimmer and more modern composition, focused less on the glittering virtuosity with which the composer is oft-associated (though this is by no means absent from the work) and more on a fractured and psychologically driven musical expression.
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Cambridge University Orchestra is the University’s flagship orchestra, performing the most ambitious repertoire with world-class professional conductors and exceptional student and professional soloists.
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01223 335 184 / wrch@mus.cam.ac.uk