Many famous composers were highly precocious. Among them was the Russian Dmitri Shostakovich, whose First Symphony, one of the half dozen most remarkable Firsts ever written, appeared when he was just nineteen. It heralded the arrival of a composer already bursting with a unique musical personality and marked for greatness. Boldness of ideas, a sense of mischievousness, a flair for instrumental color, harmonic irregularities, dramatic events, virtuoso writing for the orchestra, and an overall infectious enthusiasm are just some of the reasons for the symphony’s widespread appeal. During the 2016/2017 season, cellist Yang was the NSO’s artistin- residence. Yang returns to Taipei to perform the Cello Concerto by the Polishborn Soviet composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Weinberg’s music makes a fitting appearance beside that of Shostakovich, as the two were close friends, and Weinberg was heavily influenced by the older composer. To open this fascinating program, we hear a little-known work by a well-known composer, Dvořák’s Othello Overture. It does not follow Shakespeare’s play, or any other precise program, but rather, in a sequence of varying moods, seeks to give musical expression to the interplay of passion, bliss, suspicion, jealousy and fury.