Verdi Overture to Les vêpres siciliennes

Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2

About the Conductor

Daniel Harding

Daniel Harding is the Music and Artistic Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris-Philharmonie from 2016–2019 and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2007–2017. He is honoured with the lifetime title of Conductor Laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has worked for over 20 years. In 2024 he took up the position of Music Director of the Youth Music Culture, The Greater Bay Area (YMCG) for a five-year term, and in 2024/25 began his position of Music Director of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

He is a regular visitor to the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Dresden Staatskapelle, London Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. In the US, he has appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony.

2024/25 season saw Daniel begin his inaugural season as Music Director of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with concert performances of Tosca and Verdi’s Requiem, both of which were recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. He returned to conduct the Berliner Philharmoniker, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris-Philharmonie, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, London Symphony Orchestra and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. He  embarked on major tours to Europe with Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

About the Pianist

Yunchan Lim

Since becoming the youngest person to ever win gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of 18 in 2022, Yunchan Lim’s ascent to international stardom has been meteoric. His performances showcase a “magical ability” and a “natural, instinctive quality” (La Scena) that astounds listeners around the world. Marin Alsop, who conducted the 2022 Cliburn Final said, “Yunchan is that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together.”

In the years following his Cliburn win, Yunchan made successful orchestral debuts with the New York, Los Angeles, Munich, and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras, as well as Chicago, Lucerne, BBC, Boston, and Tokyo Symphony orchestras among others. Recital appearances include performances at Carnegie Hall, Verbier Festival, the Wigmore Hall, Het Concertgebouw, and Suntory Hall, among other major stages.

As an exclusive Decca Classics recording artist, Yunchan Lim’s acclaimed debut studio album, Chopin Études Opp. 10 & 25 has gone double platinum in South Korea and topped the classical charts around the world. The album won the 2024 Gramophone Award for Piano, and he was named Young Artist of the Year. His previous releases include his award-winning Cliburn performance of Liszt’s Transcendental Études (Steinway & Sons), which was also nominated in the Piano category at the 2024 Gramophone Awards; Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (Universal Music Group); and his appearance on KBS’s 2020 Young Musicians of Korea album. Since January 2024, Yunchan has been an Apple Music Classical Global Ambassador.

About the Orchestra

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

The Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia was the first orchestra in Italy to devote itself exclusively to the symphonic repertoire, premiering 20^th-century masterpieces such as Ottorino Respighi’s Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. Since 1908, its podium has been visited by the likes of Mahler, R. Strauss, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Hindemith, Toscanini, Furtwängler, De Sabata, Erich and Carlos Kleiber, Solti, Mengelberg, Karajan, Stokowski, Reiner, Bruno Walter, Celibidache, Masur, Blomstedt, Abbado, Dudamel, and Kirill Petrenko. Bernardino Molinari, Franco Ferrara, Fernando Previtali, Igor Markevitch, Thomas Schippers, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Daniele Gatti, Myung-Whun Chung, and Sir Antonio Pappano (2005-2023) have been its permanent conductors. Beginning with the 2024/25 season, the new Music Director is Daniel Harding. Leonard Bernstein, was its Honorary President from 1983 to 1990.

With Harding, recordings started on a new course with the Deutsche Grammophon label. The first was dedicated to Puccini’s Tosca, recorded live in October 2024. Also with Harding, the Orchestra embarked on a major Europe tour that visited Paris, Luxembourg, Antwerp, and Vienna.