Heading back to the (almost) springtime desert, this time to introduce an all-Brahms program by the San Diego Symphony with music director Rafael Payare! The orchestra is partnering with violinist Leonidas Kavakos for Brahms’s smokin’ Violin Concerto in D Major and closing the program with Symphony No. 3.

I will explore a major connection between these two works: titanic violinist Joseph Joachim, one of Brahms’s oldest musical friends. Joachim advised Brahms on the concerto and played the premiere. And Symphony No. 3 pays homage to Joachim in a cheeky way, rethinking a musical motive once associated with the violinist.