Buhr and Khachaturian are on the program for this RSO Masterworks concert too, but the feature work is Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony which goes by the popular name Pathetique. It’s an historically significant composition because it was the composer’s last symphony. Tchaikovsky premiered the work in St. Petersburg on Oct. 28, 1893, nine days before he died at age 53 — likely of cholera, although a theory apparently exists that he actually committed suicide.
If you saw the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the composition was featured in a Russian ballet segment as a tribute to the 2014 Winter Games host Sochi, Russia.
Joining the RSO on the stage at Conexus Arts Centre will be pianist Samuel Deason. The first baton stroke will be made shortly after 8 p.m. To close, here’s a portion of the first movement as performed by the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific under Arthur Arnold in 2007: