Prokofiev said that his Fifth Symphony depicted 鈥榯he greatness of the human spirit鈥�. It鈥檚 a gripping climax to a concert that begins with Tchaikovsky鈥檚 star-crossed romance, and features Kaija Saariaho鈥檚 ravishing True Fire, performed by its dedicatee.

Saariaho鈥檚 music combines intense emotion with a shimmering, visionary sonic beauty, and this setting of poetry by Emerson and Seamus Heaney was created with the intelligence and burnished tone of Finley鈥檚 singing very much in mind. The results are both surprising, and exquisitely lovely: 鈥橳his is a profound, important work鈥�, declared the LA Times at last year鈥檚 world premiere.

Please not: this concert will now be conducted by Sakari Oramo and not Santtu-Matias Rouvali, as originally advertised.