On April 12, Lionel Bringuier conducts the Singapore Symphony for the first time at Esplanade Concert Hall. Uzbekistani pianist Behzod Abduraimov will perform Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Completing the program is Ravel’s La Valse, and Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra. Program description provided by the Singapore Symphony:

“The Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2: dark majesty, breathtaking Romanticism. The Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra, “an episodic symbiosis with folk music”. Ravel’s bewitching La Valse, a spine-tingling tribute to the waltz, hypnotic and exhilarating, intoxicating and elegant, ending in astonishment. This SSO Gala teams up two up-and-coming young artistes, French conductor Lionel Bringuier and Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov.”

Mr. Bringuier is very much at home in the works of Ravel, having recorded all of Ravel’s orchestral music with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, and he recently conducted La Valse last month with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, receiving a rave review from D Magazine:

“Revealing Ravel’s intensive vision of the swish and billow of a couples waltzing embrace, bassoon and violin crescendo a flighty but devoted melody, dancing as it plays.”