Guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen led the Philadelphia Orchestra in works by Mozart and Bruckner at Marian Anderson Hall at the Kimmel Center on Friday, October 17, 2025.

The Mozart began the program. Four of the fine musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra were the soloists. 

Many immediately spotted Mr. Phillippe Tondre on Oboe, looking very much like the superhero Green Lantern, as he nobly filled his body-shaping emerald- colored doublet. Visual excellence aside, he played beautifully, as did his three soloist colleagues. The Mozart beguiled us with its charm and beauty.

As a child, the conductor heard a performance of the Bruckner 4th on the radio, and it made him realize that he wanted to be a conductor. Indeed, this Friday afternoon concert stripped away all layers of consciousness, transporting us to a mystical realm where no one wore textiles, and our flesh shivered and sparkled, reveling in male sensuality, reminding many in the audience of the hundreds of male lovers each enjoyed in the decades of their youth. Our flesh felt the tongues and soft caresses of those bygone lovers as we lost consciousness to the world around us, as we fell into complete surrender to Anton Bruckner’s sensuous onslaught. 

Anton Bruckner (September 4, 1824 – October 11, 1896) was a famed teacher and composer, who had Mahler as his student. Bruckner channeled his lack of luck with the fairer sex into ravishingly sensuous tsunamis of religious fervor. Kundalini energies ran rampant throughout the audience, as the Fourth Symphony excited our glands and fluids into metaphysical orgasms.

Rapture, explosive waves of emotion, hypnotic release constantly thrilled our nerve endings until the symphony ended, and wild audience acclaim replaced it.

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 125th season continues for many more months. For information, refer to www.philorch.org  or to www.ensembleartsphilly.org

Esa-Pekka Salonen, Conductor

Phillippe Tondre, Oboe

Ricardo Morales, Clarinet

Daniel Matsukawa, Bassoon 

Jennifer Montone, Horn

Mozart, Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, K. 297b, for winds and orchestra 

Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major (“Romantic”)