South Florida Symphony Presents Tchaikovsky & Gottsch World Premiere
Wed Jan 19, 7:30 PM - Wed Jan 19, 9:30 PM

South Florida Symphony Orchestra (SFSO) rings in 2022 with the old and the new! The esteemed orchestra, conducted by Sebrina María Alfonso, will perform the world premiere of local composer John D. Gottsch’s Princess Yurievskaya followed by Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique as part of its Masterworks III series. The concert will commence on January 19, at 7:30 p.m., at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale.

The concert will begin with the world premiere live performance of Princess Yurievskaya by SFSO composer-in-residence, John D. Gottsch. Princess Yurievskaya charts the passionate love of Catherine Dolgorukova and Tsar Alexander II — from their first meeting and eventual marriage to his assassination. This vivid narrative is full of exciting dances and torrid romance, irradiated with evocative orchestral solos.

In June 2020, Gottsch’s debut album – featuring Princess Yurievskaya and another SFSO premiere, Sunset, was released by Naxos Records, the world’s leading classical music label. The works, performed by Maestra Sebrina María Alfonso and South Florida Symphony Orchestra, were recorded at Nova Southeastern University’s Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center on March 10 -11, 2020, prior to the challenges and closures of the world health pandemic.

The program concludes with a work that Tchaikovsky considered to be the best of all his creations. In the last few months of his life, Tchaikovsky composed his haunting Symphony No. 6 in B minor – which made its premiere just nine days before his death. He called it “The Passionate Symphony,” using the equivalent Russian word which the French then mistranslated into “Pathétique” (meaning “evoking pity”) after his death.