Shostakovich Symphony 5

Syracuse University professor Natalie Draper’s Energy and Light opens with driving momentum and shimmering orchestral color. At the center stands Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D Minor, performed by Finnish violinist Elina Vähälä—a concerto that intertwines stark beauty, icy virtuosity, and soaring lyricism. The program culminates in Dmitry Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, a work of gripping contrasts that balances brooding tension with blazing intensity.