Since winning the Malko Competition, Taiwanese-born conductor Tung-Chieh Chuang has seen his career take off. For his return visit to the NSO, Chuang leads the orchestra in two Russian masterpieces, Tchaikovsky’s eternally popular Violin Concerto with soloist Julian Rachlin, and Stravinsky’s complete Firebird ballet score, the work that catapulted the composer to international fame almost overnight. Into the The Firebird Stravinsky poured his utmost creative talent, resulting in music of sumptuous hues, exotic fantasy and orchestral enchantment. Its powers to seize and fix a mood can be found at every turn, above all in the riotous colors with which he depicts the Firebird herself. The program opens with a “smile” (Un Sourire) – Messiaen’s contribution to the bicentenary of Mozart’s death in 1991.