A hometown favourite, the globe-trotting pianist Lorraine Min is featured in one of Rachmaninoff’s most challenging and best loved works. This concert is sure to delight, especially listening to the sublime Variation 18! Shostakovich and Britten were near contemporaries, and equally precocious. Jaunty fiddle tunes from Quebec inspired Britten, while the Symphony No. 1 was Shostakovich’s graduation project from the Leningrad Conservatory. It brought him instant international fame. Christian Kluxen, conductor Now in his ninth season as Music Director of the Victoria Symphony in Canada, Christian Kluxen is also in his third season as Principal Guest Conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra in Finland, following a five-year tenure as Chief Conductor of the Arctic Philharmonic in Norway. Kluxen has been described in the press as “a dynamic, charismatic figure” who “forms the music with an impressive vertical power of emotion and a focus on the grand form”, conducting “with exemplary clarity and a heavenly warmth”. He is recognized for his sincere and transparent leadership, innovative programming and his bold, imaginative and energetic interpretations, showcased both in his MD and guest work. Alongside his many and varied commitments with the Victoria Symphony and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, recent and forthcoming guest engagements include Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Pacific Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Odense Symphony, and Norrköping Symphony. A fruitful and inspiring relationship with the Arctic Philharmonic, whom Kluxen led for five years as Chief Conductor, resulted in numerous exhilarating performances of a wide variety of repertoire, as well as several acclaimed recordings. Lorraine Min, piano Biography to come.