Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with George Li

George Li joins the Utah Symphony at Maurice Abravanel Hall on Friday, February 5 and Saturday, February 6, 2027, for a program built around Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. Fabien Gabel conducts both nights, and the concerto is the main event, flanked by Mussorgsky's Prelude to Khovanshchina and Zemlinsky's The Mermaid.

That Tchaikovsky concerto has a bit of a story. It was initially dismissed as "worthless," but it's since become an undisputed classic—the "King of the Concert Hall," as it's often called—known for its powerful, octave-jumping fingerwork and a spirit of Romantic rebellion. It's the kind of piece that doesn't hide what it is: big, bold, and demanding.

Li is a natural fit for it. He's been on the international stage since he was 15, when he won the silver medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Since then, he's played with many of the world's leading orchestras, and he once did a Tiny Desk appearance where he made an upright piano sound much bigger than it had any right to. He'll be leading the piano part, with Gabel on the podium and the Utah Symphony behind him.

The other two pieces on the bill bring their own weight. Mussorgsky's Prelude to Khovanshchina opens the night, and Zemlinsky's The Mermaid is a folktale-inspired piece that draws on the composer's tempestuous love affair with Alma Mahler, who eventually broke off the relationship to marry Gustav Mahler. Between the two, you get a Russian prelude and a piece of late-Romantic drama before the Tchaikovsky takes over.

Both performances are at 7:30 PM at Maurice Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. The hall opened in 1979 and is well-known for its acoustics: a concrete building inside a brick shell, white oak walls, and brass chandeliers with 18,000 hand-strung Bohemian crystals.