Classic FM's American Road Trip

America Midwest Highway

Five nights of exclusive performances from the USA's top orchestras.

In the week preceding the 88th Academy Awards, Classic FM is celebrating with a special series of Full Works Concerts – five nights featuring exclusive performances from the USA’s top orchestras. None of these concerts have been broadcast in the United Kingdom before. 

Thursday 25 February, 8pm

Fourth stop: New York City

new york brooklyn bridge trafficCatherine Bott finds herself amongst the bright lights and iconic sounds of the Big Apple, as she presents an exclusive concert performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
Broadcast in association with
WQXR logo

Bizet: Carmen - Orchestral Suite No.1
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Leonard Bernstein

Lindberg: Vivo
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor Opus 23
Evgeny Kissin
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe: Suite No.2
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Alan Gilbert

Dvorak: Violin Concerto in A minor Opus 53
Maxim Vengerov/New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Kurt Masur

Barbara Haws, the archivist for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, talks to WQXR, New York's classical music station, about the orchestra's long relationship with New York City's most iconic concert hall:

Alan Gilbert, the music director of the New York Philharmonic pays tribute to tonight's soloist, star pianist Evgeny Kissin:

Alan Gilbert talks about Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe:

Friday 26 February, 8pm

Final stop: Los Angeles

Great OrchestrasWe’re back in LA with Classic FM’s Orchestra in America, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, under two true conducting geniuses Gustavo Dudamel and Zubin Mehta.

Rossini: The Thieving Magpie, Overture
Reger: 4 Tone Poems after Arnold Böcklin Opus 128
Haydn: Cello Concerto No.1 in C major
Gautier Capuçon
Schubert: Symphony No.6 in C major D.589
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra/Gustavo Dudamel
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin Mehta


 

Previous concerts:

First stop: Los Angeles

Los Angeles highway nightTonight it’s all about Classic FM’s Orchestra in America – the Los Angeles Philharmonic – and a concert given by Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.20 and Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony.

LISTEN AGAIN to this concert >

Bach, arr. Stokowski: Toccata & Fugue in D minor BWV.565
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor K.466
Jeremy Denk
Beethoven: Symphony No.3 in E-flat major Opus 5, ‘Eroica’
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen
Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen

 

Tuesday 23 February, 8pm

Second stop: Philadelphia

Philadelphia highwayTonight it’s the turn of the Philadelphia Orchestra and their Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin with an exclusive concert they gave just one month ago.
Broadcast in association with New York's classical music station
WQXR logo

 

Johann Strauss II: Tales from the Vienna Woods Opus 325
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4 in G major Opus 58
Jan Lisiecki/Philadelphia Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Beethoven, arr. Mahler: String Quartet in F minor Opus 95,‘Serioso’
Gruber: Charivari
Philadelphia Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Wednesday 24 February, 8pm

Third stop: Pittsburgh

highway PittsburghTonight, Jane Jones presents an exclusive concert from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under their Music Director Manfred Honeck.

LISTEN AGAIN to this concert >

Sarasate: Ziegunerweisen Opus 20
Itzhak Perlman/Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Andre Previn

Mozart: Coronation Mass K.317
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh/Manfred Honeck
Schubert: Symphony No.8 in B minor, ‘Unfinished’
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5 in E-flat major Opus 73
Yulianna Avdeeva/Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck
Bach: Partita No.1 in B-flat major BWV 825: Gigue
Yulianna Avdeeva