L'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal

Soaring lyricism and majestic grandeur unite in Brahms’s magnificent Piano Concerto No. 2. In its epic breadth, vast range of moods and technical difficulty, it stands as a giant among concertos. Yefim Bronfman, a leading international star, was with the OSM on its American tour in 1986.

Ernest Bloch composed some of the most moving and impressively beautiful works in the repertory. His Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service) is a large-scale choral work bearing a “universal human message … in fact, a gift for all humanity,” as the composer put it. The first performance of this music for Jewish worship was given in 1934, the very year the Société des Concerts de Montréal was born. Twenty years later, this organization would become the OSM.