Russian soprano Sofia Fomina makes her Boston debut with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra November 19

BOSTON, MA--The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (BPYO) begins its 10^th season at 8:00 PM on Wednesday, November 19—under the direction of Benjamin Zander—at Boston’s Symphony Hall. Soprano Sofia Fomina, already well-known in Europe, will be making her first appearance in Boston. The concerts will also be available via live streaming.

The concert opens with Barber’s heartrending Adagio—a direct response to the experiences during the past 18 months—performed by the BPYO’s 70 string players. It will be followed by Mozart’s Haffner Symphony, a work of unalloyed optimism and exuberance. The concert concludes with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, his shortest and most appealing, featuring Russian star Sofia Fomina, a leading star of many of the great European opera houses.

Praised for her “formidably striking” and “stunning silvery” soprano sound, Fomina initially burst onto the international operatic scene in 2012 with a sensational debut as Isabelle in Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable at the Royal Opera. After beginning her career at the Saarländisches Staatstheater and Frankfurt Opera, she has since appeared at Paris Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, Hungarian National Opera, Royal Opera House, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, Seattle Opera, Theater an der Wien, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, and the BBC Proms.

During weekly Zoom meetings over the past year, BYPO members studied Mahler’s Fourth from the conductor’s perspective. Members, each with their own conducting score, delved deeply into the meaning and challenges of Mahler’s masterpiece.  The Symphony Hall performance will be the culmination of that year-long immersion.

Tickets are available at www.bostonphil.org or by calling 617-236-0999. In-person tickets are $60, $40, and $20; $10 for students. Tickets to the live stream are $20 for general admission, $10 for students, and $40 for supporters. Subscription packages are also available. Ticket policies are at www.bostonphil.org/concerts/ticket-policies; coronavirus updates at www.bostonphil.org/concerts/experience/virus.