A Light for His Love
Husband and wife pianist and conductor Orli Shaham and David Robertson appear together on stage in Light Forming, which he wrote for her. The work is presented in a program that also includes Mahler’s Fifth Symphony (November 30, December 2 & 3, 2023).
Orli Shaham and David Robertson. Photo by Christian Steiner
By Leilani Polk
Orli Shaham is an in-demand pianist whose career has taken her to stages around the world (including Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House), and she’s been hailed by critics across four continents (The Guardian called her BBC Proms performance “perfection”). David Robertson is a prestigious conductor who, over more than four decades, has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lyon, Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony, the latter his longest held post (2005–2018). Shaham and Robertson first worked together in 1999 when he was guest conducting the St. Louis Symphony and she was the soloist in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1. As he once put it, “Her singing tone, richly shaded approach to harmony and exquisite ability to shape phrases spoke to me immediately.” Since then, they’ve performed more than 25 concertos together, not to mention getting married in 2003 and having twin sons in 2007.
In addition to conducting and working as Director of Orchestral Studies at The Julliard School, Robertson is also a composer. A few years ago, when Shaham and Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Music Director Eric Jacobsen floated the idea of Robertson writing a piano concerto for her, he said “it was a delight to imagine the sounds she would make. Writing for a particular performer has always been a boon to composers, and in this case my ear could reference the exact sound Orli can make in Beethoven, Bartok, Messiaen or Ravel. It was thus clear to me that my concerto would fall in line with the music already present in her vast repertoire.” Light Forming had its premiere in Orlando in 2022, with Shaham playing and Jacobsen conducting. The Seattle Symphony presents Light Forming alongside Mahler’s Fifth Symphony (November 30, December 2 & 3, 2023), and local audiences will experience a rare treat: Robertson at the podium and Shaham on piano.
Read more in the program notes here.
David Robertson’s performances are generously sponsored by Grant and Dorrit Saviers.