SPRING CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES: CHARLES-CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 3

Posted on May 8, 2022

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns, (born October 9, 1835, Paris, France—died December 16, 1921), was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the most multifaceted romantic composers, well-known for his beautiful melodies and his remarkable musical prowess. He was outstanding from a young age; at the age of thirteen, Saint-Saëns was... Read More ›

SPRING CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES: POLINA NAZAYKINSKAYA: APRIL SONG, SYMPHONY NO. 1

Posted on May 8, 2022

My First Symphony traces a journey of the human spirit in search of personal freedom, solace and eternal love. The trials and tribulations of doubt culminate in a struggle to find inner peace, as the illusion of happiness crumbles and a sense of direction is lost. Anticipation of a new dawn presses against the... Read More ›

WINTER CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES: PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY:SYMPHONY NO. 5

Posted on March 5, 2022

It is amazing to think that the great composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), today one of the most beloved and most often played composers, required patronage to survive. Tchaikovsky’s fellow composer and sometime rival Brahms became a wealthy man in his lifetime from music publishing, but this was not to be for Tchaikovsky. He and his... Read More ›

WINTER CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES: SERGEI PROKOFIEV: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1

Posted on March 5, 2022

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891-1953) was born in Sontsovka, Ukraine. Born to an agricultural family in a small village, Prokofiev was exposed to local folk tunes and peasant songs from a young age which often infiltrated his musical works later on in life. His mother, a pianist, saw potential in the young boy and regularly sent... Read More ›

WINTER CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES: WILLIAM GRANT STILL:  THRENODY: IN MEMORY OF JEAN SIBELIUS

Posted on March 5, 2022

William Grant Still (1895 – 1978), born in Mississippi to schoolteachers and raised in the Black intellectual culture of Little Rock, Arkansas, had not only African American, but also Spanish, Native American, and Scots-Irish ancestry. He was also the first generation of his family not born into slavery.

Still initially planned to study... Read More ›

KATIE LIU: PYP’S 2021 CONCERTO COMPETITION WINNER

Posted on November 2, 2021

PYP is excited to announce that tickets are on sale NOW for Season 98 (2021-2022).

Don’t miss your chance to see PYP’s 2021 Concerto Competition winner, Katie Liu, perform Camille Saint-Saens’s Violin Concerto No. 3 with the Philharmonic Orchestra on May 8, 2022.