What Makes It Great? Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
Monday | October 19 2026 | 7:30 pm
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?
Featuring violinist Timothy Chooi and the Manhattan School of Music Camerata Nova
The 1881 premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major got one of the most famous bad reviews in the history of Western music. Savaged as “music that stinks to the ear” in which the violin is “torn asunder” and “beaten black and blue,” the piece overcame its critics to become one of the most popular pieces ever composed. Host Rob Kapilow takes you deeply inside this dazzlingly difficult, thrilling masterpiece to reveal how Tchaikovsky’s only violin concerto, reviled by his contemporaries, became a cornerstone of the classical repertoire.
2026-27 tickets go on sale in July.
