Charleston Symphony Orchestra Opening Weekend
Beethoven & Tchaikovsky
September 19 and 20, 2025
7:30 pm
Gaillard Center
To celebrate their 90th anniversary, the 2025-26 Charleston Symphony season kicks off with performances highlighting the community and its incredible local talent. CSO musicians Benjamin Mekinulov, who became Principal Cellist in 2023, and Concertmaster Yuriy Bekker, will perform the world premiere of a new double concerto by Charleston composer Yiorgos Vassilandonakis.
Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony has been an audience favorite since its 1813 premiere. The symphony at times is playful, delightful, and rhythmic, but it’s never simple. Its famous second movement, the Allegretto, has been made memorable for modern fans in scenes from more than 20 films and is often performed as a standalone piece. Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra is a fitting companion for Vassilandonakis’s new double concerto and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.
Katharina Wincor, guest conductor for these performances, is the past Assistant Conductor for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and is making quite a name for herself as an internationally recognized orchestral leader.
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Program
Yiorgos Vassilandonakis
Double Concerto (World Premiere)
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33
Intermission
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 7, in A Major, Op. 92
– Tidelines Editors
(Image credit: charlestonsymphony.org)