Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

The North Carolina Symphony is back at Meymandi Concert Hall on Friday, November 6, with a program built around Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. It's a heavy-hitting night of Romantic-era music, and the symphony is bringing in a guest soloist to help carry it.

That guest is cellist Johannes Moser, who takes the lead on Elgar's Cello Concerto, one of the most famous and emotionally raw pieces ever written for the instrument. It's a long, demanding work that puts the cello front and center, and it shares the same kind of intensity as the Tchaikovsky. Between those two, the program adds Mendelssohn's The Hebrides, a shorter, atmospheric piece inspired by the Scottish islands, which should serve as a bit of a breather before the bigger works take over.

Conducting the whole thing is Anna Rakitina. With Moser on cello and Rakitina on the podium, the evening moves from the moody, seaside textures of Mendelssohn into the full-orchestra scale of Tchaikovsky and Elgar. It's a lot of ground to cover in one sitting, and the program leans heavily on the more dramatic side of the classical repertoire.

If you're not usually one for the pre-concert chatter, there's a free 30-minute 'Concert Insights' session at 7 PM, an hour before the main event kicks off. The concert itself starts at 8 PM at the Meymandi Concert Hall inside the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St. in downtown Raleigh. Tickets run from $33.77 to $103.77, and children aged 2 and under aren't permitted.