Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincysymphony ended its slate of concerts for April 2024 with an exhilarating program of works by Dimitri Shostakovich and Antonin Dvořak. Under the direction of guest conductor Katharina Wincor making a return appearance to Cincinnati following her triumphant May Festival debut in 2022 leading Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, the orchestra opened with a rousing performance of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, written in 1954 to mark the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution.
Cello soloist Sheku-Kanneh Mason (@shekukannehmason), winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician award, then joined for a scintillating and darkly visceral performance of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1. Written in 1959 for the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, a longtime friend, Kanneh-Mason played with fiery brilliance and an icy chill throughout, especially in the third movement cadenza (musically a Bach sarabande turned completely on its head). He is clearly destined to be a Cincinnati favorite, especially since he will perform as part of the next Chamber Music Cincinnati season in 2025.
The CSO rounded out the evening with Dvořak’s 8th symphony, one of the happiest works from late in his composing career dating from 1889. Wincor’s leadership was perhaps some of the finest I have yet encountered from a conductor who should be considered the next big superstar in the classical music world. It was at once sweeping, full of vitality and showcasing an impressive range of emotions that might not typically be explored by other conductors. Such was the case in the driving, pounding timpani and brass in the closing minutes of the first and fourth movements and the elegiac string writing of the second movement Adagio.
Being part of such a warmly receptive audience this evening leaves me hopeful for what great things are in store for Maestra Wincor in the next few years. Eagerly looking forward to the CSO closing out the season in May with Louis Langrée’s final concerts as music director in a blaze of glory.