Masterworks 7 Season Finale: Radical Joy – Tchaikovsky’s Fourth

Joseph Giunta Conductor

One of America’s most distinguished, versatile and dynamic conductors, Joseph Giunta is a musician of international acclaim. He is recognized as an important American conductor for his innovative programming and for his compelling interpretations of traditional and new music. His musical depth combined with his boundless energy and contagious enthusiasm makes him one of the most respected and successful orchestra leaders in the United States.

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Robert Thies piano

A pianist of “unerring, warm-toned refinement, revealing judicious glimmers of power” Robert Thies (pronounced "Theece") is an artist renowned for his consummate musicianship and poetic temperament. He first captured worldwide attention in 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. With this victory, Thies became the only American pianist to win a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn's triumph in Moscow in 1958. Praised for his “thoughtful and intensely moving interpretations” Thies, a Steinway Artist, enjoys a diverse career as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He has already performed forty concerti with orchestras all over the world. In one season alone he performed thirteen different concerti, garnering consistent critical acclaim. He has appeared with such orchestras as the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Liepāja Symphony (Latvia), Mexico City Philharmonic, the National Symphony of Mexico, Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Louisville Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Pasadena Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, and the Naples Philharmonic. His concerts have been broadcast throughout the United States, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Bolivia, Hungary, Mexico, and New Zealand. Under the auspices of Community Concerts, he performed in forty towns around the United States. In May 1999, he received a special invitation to perform in the Hermitage Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, originally built for Empress Catherine the Great. Two years earlier he worked with the late Polish composer, Henryk Gorecki in the US premiere of his Piano Sonata. This collaboration was later documented in a 2012 Polish documentary entitled Please Find Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. He has performed at venues as diverse as the Hollywood Bowl, Disney Hall, the Bird’s Nest in Beijing, and Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Thies is highly sought after as a chamber music partner with instrumentalists and singers alike. He frequently shares the stage with members of the LA Philharmonic and the LA Chamber Orchestra. Equally at home in the recording studio, he is in high demand for special recording projects by contemporary composers, and in November 2023, he was a featured soloist in Danaë Xanthe Vlasse’s epic album Mythologies II with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Studios in London. He often appears on soundtracks for film, and most recently was featured in John Williams’ score to Steven Spielberg’s film, The Fabelmans. He also recorded with James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman, Mychael Danna, and the late James Horner.