Francisco Coll’s Piano Concerto for Kirill Gerstein received its Spanish premiere on 10 April in Valladolid with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, conducted by Thierry Fischer.
Coll is a volcano of creative energy…a sonic eruption that manifests itself in every movement…[Coll] surpasses Bartok in his superimposition of harmonies and fusion with nature, transformed into a fiercely expressed, solid sound…Gerstein was the ideal interpreter…an explosive fantasy…an exemplary work.
El Norte de Castilla (Emiliano Allende) 11 April 2026
Its Spanish debut follows a celebrated world premiere for the Concerto with Simon Rattle and the BRSO in March – described by Süddeutsche Zeitung as “sensational…music brimming with decisiveness and unbridled joy in expressiveness – both in its composition and its sonic realization”.
The 21-minute work is cast in three movements. 'Humoresque (impromptu)' opens the piece with wild abandon; 'Paisaje' – meaning panorama, or landscape - sees the piano spin out long, quasi-improvisatory lines, from which huge expressive climaxes emerge. It concludes with a manic, jazz-inspired finale – ‘Rag’ – that suggests a player piano whose ferocious mechanisms are flying out of control.
It was commissioned by Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; it makes its Australian debut, conducted by Jaime Martín, in May and receives its North American premiere from the Boston Symphony Orchestra in October 2026. Fischer previously conducted Coll’s Hímnica with the orchestra in November 2025.
Music on Canvas: In the Mind of Francisco Coll - an exhibition of the composer’s paintings - ran alongside the Spanish premiere of the concerto at the Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes. As well as paintings created in parallel to compositions like the Piano Concerto, the exhibition also features Coll’s self-portraits and portraits of Tomás Luis de Victoria, Igor Stravinsky, and Bela Bartók.
On 12 April Gerstein also performed Coll's Two Waltzes Toward Civilization at a chamber programme in Valladolid. He previously premiered the 10-minute work - inspired by Lorca’s Poet in New York - in December 2024 at Chamber Music in Napa Valley before outings at Severance Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Salle Bourgie, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal – a tour lauded by critics. In spring 2025 Gerstein gave European premieres of the work at Saffron Hall, Teatro Petruzzelli (Bari), Don Bosco (Basel), the Musikverein, the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and the Boulez Saal. Just as Lorca’s verse teeters on the point of crisis, Coll’s dramatic, colourful music of extremes exists on a knife edge.