The Albany Symphony returns on Saturday, March 14, at 7:30 pm and Sunday, March 15, at 3:00 pm at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. Led by Music Director David Alan Miller and featuring 16-year-old pianist Anwen Deng, the concert pairs Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the world premiere of Ritual by Francisco del Pino, and concludes with Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7.
“We are so excited to perform this incredibly powerful, deeply spiritual concert in the perfect acoustics of the legendary Troy Savings Bank Music Hall,” Miller said. “Together, these works invite listeners not just to hear music, but to live the sound itself.”
Composed in 1805–06 and premiered in 1808 with Beethoven at the keyboard, Piano Concerto No. 4 remains one of the most innovative works in the concerto repertoire. Rather than opening with a grand orchestral statement, the piece begins quietly — the solo piano alone, offering a gentle, searching phrase that immediately reshapes the relationship between soloist and orchestra.
The concerto unfolds as a dialogue rather than a duel. The hushed second movement suspends time in a conversation of tension and release, while the finale bursts forth with warmth and rhythmic vitality.
For Anwen Deng, the concerto holds deep personal meaning. Born in Brisbane and accepted into The Juilliard School’s pre-college division at age six, Deng has already amassed major international competition prizes and orchestral appearances across the United States and abroad. A 2025 and 2026 YoungArts winner with distinction, she continues to balance a burgeoning performance career with composition studies.
“I am truly excited to perform with the Albany Symphony,” Deng said. “Performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 is especially meaningful to me for its vivid storytelling through lyricism, introspection, and the beautiful dialogue between the piano and orchestra.”
The concert’s contemporary anchor is the world premiere of Ritual, a newly commissioned orchestral work by Francisco del Pino. Conceived as a response to Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, the piece explores the orchestra as a single, monumental instrument.
Del Pino describes the opening as a “dense, monolithic block of sound” that gradually reveals interior detail — a sonic architecture that mirrors Bruckner’s vast symphonic landscapes while speaking in a distinctly modern voice.
Currently based in Princeton, New Jersey, del Pino studied in Argentina before completing his MFA at Princeton University, where he is now a doctoral fellow in composition. His music has been performed internationally and championed locally by the Albany Symphony’s adventurous new music ensemble, Dogs of Desire.
“In Ritual, I am trying to go a bit beyond orchestration and think of the orchestra as one giant instrument,” del Pino said. “The music is at times tender, at times brutal, at times both at once.”
Compact in duration but expansive in sonic ambition, Ritual serves as both homage and contemporary meditation — setting the stage for Bruckner’s towering symphony.
Few works in the late Romantic canon achieve the spiritual breadth of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7. Composed in the 1880s, the symphony is celebrated for its luminous orchestration, soaring melodic lines, and immense architectural design.
The Adagio, written in memory of Richard Wagner, stands among the most profound slow movements in symphonic literature, crowned by radiant brass chorales and an atmosphere of transcendent stillness. Across its four movements, the symphony builds a vast, contemplative landscape — one that resonates powerfully within the famed acoustics of Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
The March performances are part of the Albany Symphony’s ambitious 2025–26 season, which continues through June with its American Music Festival and a wide array of programs celebrating living composers alongside masterworks of the past. Long recognized as one of the nation’s most innovative orchestras, the Albany Symphony continues to champion new music while delivering virtuosic performances of core repertoire.
For Capital Region audiences, this March program offers a rare convergence: Beethoven’s poetic intimacy, a bold contemporary premiere, and Bruckner’s awe-inspiring grandeur — all in one weekend.
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