The concerto form has roared back in a big way, from Adams to Zwilich

Dozens of acclaimed concertos have been composed in the last few decades, among them, Thomas Adès’ Violin Concerto (2005), Sofia Gubaidulina’s Concerto for Violin, Cello and Bayan (2017) and John Adams’ piano concerto Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? (2019).

One of the latest additions to the list is Bryce Dessner’s Violin Concerto (2021), which soloist Pekka Kuusisto and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are performing through May 31.

“The concerto form is back in a big way,” said guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is leading those concerts, as well as another set June 2-4. “Composers are again interested in writing concertos, and soloists are interested in commissioning them. There is a young generation of performers who want new concertos, and I think that is a great thing.”

Salonen also is one of the classical-music world’s most acclaimed composers, and he has made his own important contributions to the form, such as his Violin Concerto (2009) and Cello Concerto (2016). Another advocate is Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, who has written more than 25 works in the form, with her latest, Concerto for Two Pianos, scheduled for its premiere in May 2023.

During the mid and late 20th century, when classical music was largely in the grip of atonalism, many important modernist composers of that era, especially those in Europe, such as Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen, avoided writing concertos. “It was really not a fashionable thing to do,” Salonen said. “And if you wrote a concerto, it had better be an anti-concerto.”

Now the tables have completely turned, Salonen believes, and major composers are clamoring to add their voices to the form. “So it’s almost like a golden age,” he said. “There are some fabulous new violin concertos, but also ones for viola, cello and piano.”