GIOACCHINO ROSSINI (1792-1868)
Overture to L’Italiana in Algeri (1813)
Before he delighted the world with The Barber of Seville, Rossini had already honed his comic opera skills on The Italian Girl in Algiers, one of the best examples of a story genre that plunges a traveler (here, Isabella from Italy) into a foreign landscape (Algeria) to comic effect. The wild and crazy events that ensue are accompanied by playful, tuneful music—foretold in this sparkling overture.

NICCOLÒ PAGANINI (1782-1840)
Violin Concerto No. 1 (1817)
There is little doubt that Paganini invented virtuosity-as-show-biz and was its greatest practitioner. (Liszt exclaimed “What a man! What a violin! What an artist! Heavens!”) A daredevil showman, he did little to dispel the rumor of a pact with the devil. This concerto displays every trick in the book, so watch for a Paganini specialty, “ricochet bowing”—a sort of rapid rappelling of the bow against one string. A proverbial showstopper.

PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Symphony No. 5 (1888)
Guilt about his homosexuality and the brief, disastrous marriage he had undertaken to hide it had already found expression in Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. Eleven years later, he confessed to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck: “Now I shall work my hardest. I am exceedingly anxious to prove to myself, as to others, that I am not played out as a composer. … Have I told you that I intend to write a symphony?” Ever the fragile, self-doubting composer, Tchaikovsky still saw himself as a plaything of fate, struggling for happiness. While sketching ideas for the Fifth he noted: “Introduction. Complete submission before Fate – or, what is the same thing, the inscrutable designs of Providence. Allegro. Murmurs, doubts, laments, reproaches against …XXX [Tchaikovsky’s code for his homosexuality].” Even after the symphony’s successful St. Petersburg premiere and the orchestra’s triple fanfare in his honor, Tchaikovsky wrote, “I have come to the conclusion that [the Fifth Symphony] is a failure. The applause and ovations referred not to this but to other works of mine, and the Symphony itself will never please the public.” He couldn’t have been more wrong one. To this day the glorious melodies of his emotionally-charged, “heart-on-sleeve” music never cease to thrill audiences, no matter what the composer himself feared or what the unkind critics said. Throughout the work, Tchaikovsky employs a motive that is usually taken to symbolize “Fate” or “Providence,” presented in a variety of guises—from subdued to ominous to exultant—as the symphony unfolds. It appears that he has triumphed over fate, as thunderous brass and timpani bring this masterpiece home.

Xian Zhang became music director of La Verdi (the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi) at the start of the 2009–10 season. In April 2009 she conducted that orchestra in a concert at the Salla Nervi of the Vatican City for the Pope and President of the Republic of Italy. Prior to this appointment, she served as the New York Philharmonic’s Associate Conductor (and the first holder of the Arturo Toscanini Chair) for three years, having previously held the position of Assistant Conductor.

In Europe, future highlights include debuts with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, where her program includes the world premiere of Mikko Heiniö’s Moon Concerto; and Orchestre National de Belgique, with whom she will appear at the Europalia Festival. Other European engagements include the London Symphony Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at the Verona Festival, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Residentie Orkest, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. She will also conduct the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, and Vienna Symphony at the 2011 Bregenz Festival, and the ORF Radio Symphonie Orchester Wien at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

In North America, upcoming engagements include her debuts with the New Jersey and National Symphony Orchestras; The Minnesota Orchestra; and a return to the Juilliard Orchestra, following her recent tour with the ensemble to China. Last season she appeared with the Chicago, Toronto, and Indianapolis symphony orchestras and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As an opera conductor, Xian Zhang made her debut with Puccini’s La bohème for English National Opera in spring 2007, and conducted Puccini’s Turandot in Beijing in May 2009.

Born in Dandong, China, Xian Zhang made her professional debut conducting Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Central Opera House in Beijing at the age of 20. She trained at Beijing’s Central Conservatory, earning both her bachelor and master of music degrees, and served one year on its conducting faculty before moving to the United States in 1998.

Violinist Ingolf Turban was born in Munich, and studied with Gerhart Hetzel, Dorothy Delay, and Jens Ellermann. He received a concert diploma at the Munich College of Music and was concertmaster of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Sergiu Celibidache, from 1985 to 1988. Since launching his solo career in 1988, he has performed in many European and U.S. concert halls, and with some 60 orchestras worldwide. In addition to having a wide-ranging repertoire, he is a passionate interpreter of the work of Niccolò Paganini, many of whose compositions he has recorded. Mr. Turban is the founder of the chamber orchestra, I Virtuosi di Paganini, the mission of which, he says, is “to discover and explore the field of works for violin and little string orchestra of Paganini’s time.” Mr. Turban is a professor of violin at the Stuttgart College of Music; he has made more than 25 recordings.