TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique”

Conductor Osmo Vänskä leads the Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s masterfully orchestrated and emotionally expansive Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique” — a musical journey that encompasses desperation as well as joy.

Off the podium, Vänskä recalls a childhood in Finland shaped by music as well as cross-country skiing — a practice that taught him both the quiet necessity of nature and the elemental essence of breath. He reveals how he breathes with the orchestra while conducting, creating a space that is both intensely personal and reassuringly communal, shared by performers and listeners alike. “We are together and alone at the same time,” he says, so that “we are able to feel something great in the end.”