Noteworthy

By Kyle MacMillan

Like his thirty-two piano sonatas or nine symphonies, Ludwig van Beethoven’s five piano concertos are essential works that push the technical and expressive boundaries of the genre and reveal the composer’s ever-maturing artistry across his extraordinary and much-celebrated career.

These late 18th and early 19th-century works remain staples on orchestral programs, especially the Third, Fourth, and Fifth, but the Toronto Symphony Orchestra is presenting them in an unusual and exciting format. The TSO will perform all five in two concerts – February 5 and 6—giving audiences the chance to hear them in context with each other and get an in-depth look at Beethoven’s constantly evolving relationship with the concerto form.

“It’s one thing to play the concertos individually,” said pianist Jan Lisiecki, “but it’s entirely different to play them together, to work on them at the same time, to live with them together, and, of course, also present them to the audience at the same time, because you experience Beethoven’s world – his entire world – from the beginning to the end.”

One of two performers chosen by Music Director Gustavo Gimeno as the TSO’s Spotlight Artists for 2024/25, Lisiecki will serve as both soloist and conductor – another aspect of these performances that sets them apart.   

“It’s great sometimes to have just a direct connection – making music together, as if you are playing chamber music without a conductor,” said Gimeno. “It’s a different way of approaching these concertos, and I think it’s going to be very much enjoyed and appreciated by the audience.”

A 29-year-old native and resident of Calgary, Alberta, Lisiecki has built an international reputation, performing regularly with many of the world’s top orchestras. When the Polish-Canadian was 13, he created a sensation at the 2008 edition of the Chopin and his Europe Festival in Warsaw, and his career was launched.

Lisiecki began learning Beethoven’s concertos about a dozen or so years ago. In 2018, he recorded all five of them live with the Academy of St. Martin the Fields for the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label, serving as both soloist and conductor, so the challenge of taking on the two roles is nothing new to him.

“It creates an environment of collaboration,” Lisiecki said, “and forces the musicians to listen very much more because they have to be involved in what I’m doing as a performer and cannot rely upon a baton, upon somebody’s indications. They must be part of the entire feeling. But when that does happen, I think the result is magical, because it is a large orchestra living and breathing as one.” 

Working in this intimate, highly collaborative way across two intensive concerts, Lisiecki and the TSO seek to give listeners an opportunity to rediscover (or perhaps discover) these landmark musical creations in a fresh, engrossing way.    

Join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, and Thursday, February 6, 2025, at 8:00pm, for a landmark two-night event featuring all five of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos: All Beethoven with Lisiecki. Renowned pianist and 2024/25 TSO Spotlight Artist Jan Lisiecki will lead from the piano as both soloist and conductor, bringing these iconic works to life in an intimate and unforgettable performance.