Guest conductor Ankush Kumar Bahl, music director of the Omaha Symphony, leads your BPO in a tour de force. Reena Esmail’s “Testament” depicts the story of Meera Bai, a celebrated saint-poet from 15th century India who summons a mighty storm as a symbol of her devotion to Lord Krishna. Technically mesmerizing violinist Paul Huang tackles Bruch’s popular First Violin Concerto. Schumann’s uplifting Second Symphony was composed following his recovery from a nervous breakdown.

Program

Ankush Kumar Bahl, conductor
Paul Huang, violin

REENA ESMAIL  “Testament” from Vishwas
BRUCH  Violin Concerto No. 1
SCHUMANN  Symphony No. 2 in C major

About Ankush Kumar Bahl

Currently in his second season as Music Director of the Omaha Symphony, Ankush Kumar Bahl has delivered resonant performances of masterworks, new and old, championing American composers and artists while pursuing innovative, community-based concert design. Recognized by orchestras and audiences alike for his impressive conducting technique, thoughtful interpretations, and engaging podium presence, Bahl has been praised by The New York Times for his “clear authority and enthusiasm” and ability to “inspire.”

Highlights of recent and upcoming engagements include the New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, and National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.). He has appeared at summer festivals with the Copenhagen Philharmonic at Tivoli; Sun Valley Summer Symphony; Wolf Trap with the NSO; Chautauqua Institute; and Brevard Music Center, where he made his debut in the summer of 2022. Maestro Bahl has been fortunate to work with prominent soloists including Daniil Trifonov, Lang Lang, Benjamin Grosvenor, Conrad Tao, Anthony McGill, Orion Weiss, and Kelley O’Connor.

Bahl has received four Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards as well as the 2009 Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholarship. A protégé of former New York Philharmonic Music Director Kurt Masur, Bahl served as his assistant conductor at the Orchestre National de France, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He then went on to become an assistant conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach, where he led over 100 performances over four seasons. Additional mentors include Jaap van Zweden, Zdenek Macal, David Zinman, and Gianandrea Noseda.

American born and of Indian descent, Ankush Kumar Bahl is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and received a double degree in music and rhetoric from the University of California at Berkeley. He studied at the Aspen Music Festival and completed his master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting at the Manhattan School of Music with Zdenek Macal and George Manahan. In recent years, Bahl has collaborated with jazz legend Wayne Shorter, conducting his quartet in concerts of his orchestral music at the Kennedy Center and Detroit Free Jazz Festival.

About Paul Huang

Recipient of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, violinist Paul Huang’s recent appearances included the Detroit Symphony with Leonard Slatkin, Baltimore Symphony with Markus Stenz, and Houston Symphony with Andrés Orozco-Estrada. In the 2022-23 season, Mr. Huang opened the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan season and will embark on a US tour with them at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. Mr. Huang will also appear with the Hiroshima Symphony, the Rotterdam Philharmonic with Lahav Shani, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with Fabio Luisi, and the Residentie Orkest Den Haag with Jun Markl this season. Other highlights include engagements with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and the Colorado, San Diego, and Pensacola Symphonies.

A frequent guest artist at music festivals worldwide, he recently stepped in for Anne-Sophie Mutter at Bravo! Vail Music Festival playing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 with Chamber Orchestra Vienna-Berlin, and made recital debuts at the Lucerne Festival and Aspen Music Festival, all to critical acclaim. In Fall 2021, Paul also became the first classical violinist to perform his own arrangement of the National Anthem for the opening game of the NFL at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, to an audience of 75,000.

In January 2023, Mr. Huang will launch the first edition of “Paul Huang & Friends” International Chamber Music Festival in Taipei, Taiwan. Winner of the 2011 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Huang earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Juilliard School. He plays on the legendary 1742 ex-Wieniawski Guarneri del Gesù on loan through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. He is on the faculty of the Taipei National University of the Arts and resides in New York.