One of the most interesting and satisfying concerts of the classical music season was last week at Carnegie Hall. The conductor Raphaël Pichon, a rising star in Europe, led a version of “Mein Traum,” his collage of works by Schubert and some contemporaries, an intermissionless program that broods and rages before turning transcendent at the end.

The baritone Christian Gerhaher was haunting in the bruising song “Der Doppelgänger.” As the evening drew to a close, the soprano Ying Fang sang “Nacht und Träume” with breathtaking purity. The performance cast a rare spell.

It was the first time that Pichon, 40, had conducted in New York. You might expect that an in-demand young maestro would choose to make such an important debut with the Metropolitan Opera or the New York Philharmonic, or while visiting with a touring powerhouse. But Pichon led “Mein Traum” with a rather less famous, local organization: the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this season.

Less famous, but more open. In an interview a few days after the concert, Pichon said he had consulted Pablo Heras-Casado, the principal conductor of St. Luke’s from 2011 to 2017, before agreeing to the collaboration.

“The most important thing he told me,” Pichon recalled, “is there is no routine in this orchestra. When they decide to start a project, they’re fully dedicated. The musicians want to create this space of freedom, of experimentation.”

Without the rigid week-after-week subscription structure of the Philharmonic and other major orchestras, St. Luke’s has the versatility to take on unusual ideas like Pichon’s. Its core musicians, who include some of New York’s finest freelancers, are tenured, but the ensemble’s schedule leaves them ample time for other commitments; Benjamin Bowman, the concertmaster for “Mein Traum” at Carnegie, is also a concertmaster of the Met Orchestra.

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