Gustavo Dudamel conducts Schumann and Stravinsky

Gustavo Dudamel, the popular Venezuelan music and artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, makes his BSO subscription series debut with two weeks of concerts-his first BSO appearances since his Tanglewood debut in 2006. This first program ushers in the change of season with two contrasting, spring-related works. Robert Schumann composed his Symphony No. 1, Spring, in 1841 with the encouragement of his new wife Clara; the score is bursting with energy and optimism. Igor Stravinsky’s seminal ballet score The Rite of Spring, which premiered in Paris in 1913, was given its American premiere by the BSO in 1924. Depicting an imagined ancient ritual re-awakening of the earth, the score still has the power to thrill and even shock the listener with its raw, protean power.