The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra: Jonathan Biss Plays Schumann’s Piano Concerto

Longtime collaborator Jonathan Biss reunites with SPCO musicians, bringing our 2025.26 season theme full circle in a concert that honors the lives and music of Robert and Clara Schumann, with Robert’s titular Piano Concerto as the program’s finale. An accomplished pianist in her own right, Clara is essential to Robert’s music, and she was the soloist who premiered his concerto in 1845 following its completion. In addition to the only piano concerto her husband ever finished, this program features Clara’s Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano as well as works by contemporary composers Augusta Reed Thomas and György Kurtág, who were both inspired by the music of the Schumanns. Biss will intersperse these shorter works within Schumann’s larger works for piano and orchestra.