Drawing on two of the many souls of late-Romantic Russia – the lyrical one of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and the pyrotechnic one of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto – the season opening night marks the double debut of American conductor Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the prestigious German ensemble of which he has been principal conductor since 2019. Considered almost unplayable due to the high virtuosity required of the soloist, the “Rach 3” is entrusted to the great Uzbek pianist Yefim Bronfman – defined as the “brontosaurus” by Philip Roth in his novel The Human Stain – who performed this transcendental piece at the Lingotto in 2004.