Symphony No. 9 (Shostakovich) Symphony No. 9 (Shostakovich) Symphony No. 9 in E-flat major, Op. 70, was composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1945. It was premiered on 3 November 1945 in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky. The ninth symphony was originally intended to be a celebration of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II (see Eastern Front). The composer declared in October 1943 that the symphony would be a large composition for orchestra, soloists and chorus "about the greatness of the Soviet people, about our Red Army liberating our native land from the enemy". On the occasion
Symphony No. 11 (Villa-Lobos) Symphony No. 11 (Villa-Lobos) Symphony No. 11 is a composition by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written in 1955. A performance lasts about twenty-five minutes. On 29 October 1954, along with a number of other prominent composers, Villa-Lobos was commissioned jointly by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Boston Symphony Orchestra for a work to celebrate that orchestra's 75th anniversary. In response, he composed his Eleventh Symphony, which was completed in 1955 . The autograph manuscript of the score, held by the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, is dedicated to Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky. The