Letter from Florida: Tianyi Lu conducts Bartók & Brahms with Lukas Vondracek & New World Symphony

Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 - Lukas Vondracek (Photo: New World Symphony)

Brahms: Academic Festival Overture, Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3, Brahms: Symphony No. 1; Lukas Vondracek, New World Symphony, Tianyi Lu, Ziwei Ma; New World Center, Florida
Reviewed by Robert J Carreras (20 September 2025)

Inspiring accounts of strenuous works by Johannes Brahms and Bela Bartok in New World Symphony's first orchestra concert of the 2025-26 season conducted by Chinese-born New Zealander Tianyi Lu

Only at the very end of Peter Ustinov Reads the Orchestra is the conductor given some shrift. Just before the Finale, Ustinov refers to her as, “...one last member of the orchestra.” The marketing strategy of leaving the best for last escapes no medium, what you will. And if not best, the work of conductor should be described as most. Responsibilities fallen on conductor’s shoulders are as heavy-duty as they are infinite. 

Conductor of a major orchestra must be an avid interpreter of music as a language. She must be storyteller to the listener of the composer’s score. She must learn and recall many musical languages; old and new, established and emerging composers are part of standard concert programs. She must be conversant in a vast field of musical-speak.

She must be classically trained and reach the level of concert player in her own instrument, often the piano, and also get an applied grasp on the whole family of instruments of the orchestra. She must develop an understanding of these instruments so as to communicate with sections and individual players in credible and convincing ways. 

She must corral orchestral forces – from only a few in chamber music, to a few more, and a group of some 40 players (and singers) or more at a time. And, she must make the music play in a way that translates to audience comprehension, performance after performance.

Equal to these benchmarks is Tianyi Lu, as is sure enough the fresh liveliness and expressiveness she brings to New World Symphony (NWS). This program was an inspiring account of strenuous works by Johannes Brahms and Bela Bartok in NWS’s first orchestra concert of the 2025-26 season. Lu is sure and equal to the task of osmoting much positive influence on this, America’s orchestral academy. 

Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 - Tianyi Lu, Lukas Vondracek (Photo: New World Symphony)

NWS Conducting Fellow Ziwei Ma opened the concert with a reading of Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture – rather civilized, rather safe. Occupying the denizen of the “Hooked on Classics” genre, Brahms meant for this piece to be jocular and playful in nature, and though the brass were particularly present and available, the music’s humorous heights were not reached until the coda. Overall, the playing was short on keeping Brahms’ main idea constant. 

Lukas Vondracek stands, sits and plays over the grand piano in a manner making the instrument seem mini and out-of-scale next to him. For Bela Bartok’s Concerto No. 3 in E major for Piano and Orchestra, Vondracek apostrophizes the composer’s fortissimo markings – the imagery of pulverizing the piano endures. This was in the Adagio religioso of the second movement and at the rondo in the third. That second movement was expounded besides by bombed, zeroed-in pitches on chords. 

Vondracek tamed his spirit by conducting himself accordingly, waving his left hand to stave off acceleration and to soften his touch. Rhythmic timing seems to be a strength for Vondracek, insight into speaking Bartok’s traditionally classical bent for this piano concerto a weakness. All in all, the pianist presented a monochromatic tonal palette, not altogether unidiomatic here. He also presented reassured technical prowess in one of the most demanding works for piano in the standard repertoire.

Displaying lovely hand and arm sways and the stretching balance of a Tai Chi master, Tianyi Lu is a superlatively supportive partner to soloist in every conceivable way. She deferred to the piano for communicative intent now and provided most of the subtler impressionistic flavor of this Bartok.

Brahms’ letter to conductor Hermann Levi states well the care to be considered when comparing talents: “You’ve no conception of what it’s like to hear a giant’s footsteps marching behind you.” Lu’s use of the first movement to establish tempi variations echoes the positive influence of Wilhelm Furtwangler. Lu’s is a more intimate and relatable state of exaltation even, and her sound-world – like Brahms’ own – similarly spacious. 

Lu seems to see the orchestra much like a choir. If she used the baton at all for Bartok, it was discrete-plus; working open-handed, she seems to pick up the baton for Brahms now only when sensing more rhythmic or precision direction necessary. Her knowledge of the instrument sections is uncommon, drawing out richness and emotive soundscapes also uncommon. This conductor is on the same track as Furtwangler as communicator, playing the orchestra as it were an instrument. 

From the syncopated percussion closing Bartok and then opening Brahms’ first symphony, NWS’s playing was fluidly fluent. For the lyricism of the Andante sostenuto, NWS instrumentalists are a natural; Lu appeared to bask in their collective triumph now. There is Lu’s regard again, at the crossroads into the mystery of the third movement. Kudos to concertmaster Natalie Koh for her caressing violin, and in following Lu in the dance with the horn.

Judging by the stamina and symmetry of the last movement, with the fugato bookended by the five part rondo, rehearsals must have been a workout. NWS stretches to and fro with Lu, staying the course rhythmically, colorfully, as the music teases toward a termination somewhere out there. Tianyi Lu’s tonal colors and camaraderie are formidable, and highly complementary features to that of Stephane Deneve’s and his plans for NWS.

By the time of this performance, “...one last member of the orchestra...,” conductor Tianyi Lu, and New World Symphony had done most of their work. Here’s a trade-secret for you: rehearsal time and work is what separates one orchestra from another; here’s another: all of that work can come undone and fall apart at performance time; and, yet another: the music’s not over until the conductor says so. Ustinov concludes his statement with, “...who is very, very important! This is the conductor!” 

Reviewed by Robert J Carreras

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) - Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 (1880)
Ziwei Ma, conductor

Béla Bartók (1881-1945) - Concerto No. 3 in E major for Piano and Orchestra, Sz. 119 (1945)
Johannes Brahms - Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 (1855-76)
Lukáš Vondráček, piano
Tianyi Lu, conductor
New World Symphony
New World Center, Michael Tilson Thomas Performance Hall, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Stage
Miami, Florida

Tianyi Lu, New World Symphony (Photo: New World Symphony)

The New World Symphony (NWS) is an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida. Founded in 1987 by Michael Tilson Thomas and Lin and Ted Arison, NWS has helped launch the careers of nearly 1,300 alumni worldwide. In fall 2022 Stéphane Denève was named Artistic Director of the New World Symphony.

NWS is a training ensemble for young musicians in preparation for professional careers in classical music. Since 2011, the New World Symphony has its headquarters in the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center in Miami Beach, Florida. The orchestra presents a season of concerts from September to May at the 756-seat concert hall of the New World Center, including full-orchestra concerts, a chamber music series, a new music series, percussion consort series, small ensemble concerts, a family series, and special festivals and recitals.

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