Laurence Equilbey conducts Beethoven — With Sunwook Kim

Internationally acclaimed pianist Sunwook Kim brings his precision and poetry to Paris for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the brilliant Laurence Equilbey and a double orchestra made up of two of her own ensembles, Insula Orchestra and Insula Camerata. Grander and more contrasting than his Second Piano Concerto, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (which was composed after the Second but published first!) encapsulates the composer’s transition from young virtuoso to established composer. As a young pianist himself, Sunwook Kim used to consider the concerto “a mechanical C‑major showpiece full of scales.” Now, the seasoned pianist injects delicacy and charm into its “wit, subito turns, [and] long‑breathed lines” in this stunning performance at La Seine Musicale. Next up is Beethoven’s epic Symphony No. 7, a personal favorite of the composer which, along with the Eighth, marked a turning point in his symphonic writing. Described by Wagner as “the apotheosis of the dance,” the trancelike, relentlessly forward-moving Seventh is brought to dancing, energetic life in the capable hands of Equilbey.