Many of the paintings that inspired Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky to write his Pictures at an Exhibition for solo piano in 1874 have been lost. Fortunately, in his suite of ten piano pieces the composer so intimately and indelibly evokes the artworks of his late friend Viktor Hartmann that virtuoso pianists can still conjure images in listeners’ minds. For the inaugural concert of the 2026-27 season of the Peabody Performance Series at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C., faculty artist and internationally acclaimed Steinway Artist Thomas Hecht showcases the piano’s seemingly infinite picture-making possibilities with his program entitled Portraits & Landscapes: Canvassing the Musical Imagination. This special multi-media presentation features excerpts from Isaac Albeniz’s Iberia, Mozart’s Fantasy in D Minor, K. 397; Ravel’s La Valse; and Mussorgsky’s beloved tribute, Pictures at an Exhibition. 

A performance by the Peabody Graduate Jazz Ensemble.

A performance by students from the Peabody Chamber Music program.