Music Director Candidate Mei-Ann Chen conducts a symphonic journey spanning 160 years, which includes Mendelssohn's exuberant Italian Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s monumental Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring the wildly imaginative Nareh Arghamanyan and Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, a joyful time capsule of the October Revolution. Higdon’s blue cathedral contrasts the older works with a touching, personal tribute to the composer's sibling, which contemplates the subject of life itself.