The Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music Director Gustavo Dudamel celebrate Rachmaninoff in a cycle of concerts spotlighting the composer’s four concertos for piano and orchestra. Yuja Wang, arguably one of the most fearless and popular pianists on the globe today, plays the technically treacherous Third Concerto in a program that also features Rachmaninoff’s personal favorite among his works, the choral symphony The Bells (Kolokola)— a setting of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem of the same name in a Russian translation by Konstantin Balmont.

For the first part of her preconcert presentation, Dr. Brown-Montesano will chat with soprano Mané Galoyan about singing Rachmaninoff’s vibrant—and unfairly neglected—choral symphony. The second part of the talk will delve into the musical sounds and historical context of The Bells and Third Piano Concerto. Among the hot topics? What bells meant to Rachmaninoff’s sound world, how the composer finished learning the solo part of the Third Concerto during his sea voyage to the U.S., and the evocative power of the Dies irae chant for Rachmaninoff and other Romantic-era composers.