An evening looking East, to the borders between history and legend, led by one of the most magnetic talents of the new generation, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian. The young Viennese conductor of Armenian descent has crafted a program that weaves together his family heritage and the great Russian tradition. At the heart of the concert is Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, composed in the immediate aftermath of the Soviet victory in World War II; framing this masterpiece of irony and lightness are two compositions of epic proportions: the Suite from the opera Rostam and Sohrab by his father, Loris Tjeknavorian, inspired by an ancient Persian poem, and Borodin’s dazzling Polovtsian Dances.