Susanna Mälkki Conducts Sibelius & Beethoven

Susanna Mälkki leads the Dallas Symphony in a program of Sibelius and Beethoven at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, with three performances to choose from: Friday, April 30, at 7:30 PM; Saturday, May 1, at 7:30 PM; and Sunday, May 2, at 2:00 PM. Mälkki is a Finnish conductor, and she opens the evening with two orchestral poems by her own country's musical hero, Jean Sibelius. The first is En Saga, a tribute to Finland's tradition of mythic storytelling. The second is Finlandia, a piece Sibelius described as the story of Finland's 600-year fight for freedom, the song of its battle, and its hymn of victory—a testament to the Finnish people's strength in their quest for independence from Imperial Russia.

Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, known as the Eroica, closes the program. It's a work that redefined the 19th-century symphony as a musical odyssey of vast emotional scope. The two composers are paired here because they each channeled the turbulent world around them and answered grief and despair with heroic anthems of resilience and freedom.

If you want a bit more context before the music starts, there are pre-concert talks with Assistant Conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg in Horchow Hall, which open the evenings. Tickets start at $44, and the three dates give you some flexibility: Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 PM, or a Sunday matinee at 2:00 PM.