Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff & Still

Philadelphia Orchestra Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin returns to Saratoga to lead two unique programs that can only be heard at SPAC.

The program opens with the suite from Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird. One of the most beloved ballets of all time, The Firebird was originally written by a then relatively unknown Stravinsky for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes in the early 1900’s. The imaginative score is equal parts thrilling and ethereal, bringing to life an old Russian tale and launching the composer’s now storied career.

Italian pianist, Beatrice Rana, returns to SPAC for the first time in more than a decade, performing Rachmaninoff’s inventive Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Since her first visit to SPAC, Rana has become one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation, earing praise for her “underlying calm command” (The New York Times) and refined approach.

Through SPAC’s and The Philadelphia Orchestra’s continued efforts to explore works by underrepresented composers, the program closes with the rarely performed Second Symphony by William Grant Still. A prolific composer who produced dozens of major orchestral works over his 50-year career, Still had a storied relationship with The Philadelphia Orchestra and longtime maestro Leopold Stokowski who proclaimed Still as “one of our greatest American composers.”

Program

*Indicates SPAC premiere

Performers

Yannick Nézet-Séguin | conductor 
Beatrice Rana | piano 

In September 2018, Yannick Nézet-Séguin becomes the third Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2012, he becomes Artistic and Music Director in February 2023 and renews his contract until 2030. Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal since 2000, he signs a contract “for life” in 2019. He is Honorary Conductor of the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest after being their Music Director from 2008 to 2018. He is also Honorary Member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Yannick has worked with many leading European ensembles and enjoys close collaborations with Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Bayerischer Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester and Chamber Orchestra of Europe; between 2008 and 2014, he was also Principal Guest Conductor of London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has appeared many times at the BBC Proms and at many European festivals, among them Edinburgh, Lucerne, Salzburg and Grafenegg (Vienna). North American summer appearances include New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Lanaudiere, Vail and Saratoga along with Domaine Forget Festival in Charlevoix. With the Philadelphia Orchestra, he goes regularly to Carnegie Hall where he has been Perspectives Artist in 2019-2020. He also conducts master classes, notably at two of the most renowned institutions, the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia and the Julliard School of New York. In Quebec, he directs an academy of young conductors linked to the Orchestre Métropolitain, in close collaboration with the Domaine Forget Summer Festival.

Beatrice Rana has been shaking the international classical music world, arousing admiration and interest from concert presenters, conductors, critics and audiences internationally.  

In the 2024/25 season, Beatrice will be artist in residence at Paris’ Radio-France. The residency will involve a recital at the Auditorium de Radio France and several concerts and tours with both in-house orchestras, the Orchestre National de France and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and their music directors Cristian Macelaru and Mikko Frank. She will also return to the New York Philharmonic with Marek Janowski, the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Gianandrea Noseda, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Manfred Honeck and debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Alain Altinoglu. 

Beatrice Rana records exclusively for Warner Classics. In 2015, her first album featuring Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.2 and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 with Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia di Roma received international acclaim. Her latest album, released in 2024, is dedicated to 2 « monuments » of the 19th century, Beethoven’s Hammerklavier sonata and Chopin’s 2nd sonata « Funeral March ».  

In June 2013, Beatrice Rana won Silver (2nd Prize) and the Audience Award at the prestigious Van Cliburn competition. She had attracted international attention at 18, winning 1st Prize and all special prizes at the Montreal International Competition in 2011. Beatrice began her musical studies at four and achieved her Piano Degree under the guidance of Benedetto Lupo at the Nino Rota Conservatory of Music in Monopoli, where she also studied composition with Marco della Sciucca. She then studied with Arie Vardi in Hannover and again with Benedetto Lupo at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. 

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