The next time you despair of young people losing touch with classical music, please consider the following. Three days in advance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s birthday (on September 25), here are a few links to some incredible videos, which apparently have been in circulation, but I only just came across them the other day.

Connor Gallagher is a composer, conductor, and arranger with lots of genre-hopping experience between the worlds of classical, jazz, and heavy metal. Here is his virtuosic take on the second movement from Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10.

And the second movement of the String Quartet No. 8.

Similarly, Joe Parrish, of the progressive rock band Oraton, devotes an awful lot of time to electric guitar overdubs of classical masterworks. His rendition of the first movement from Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is a knockout.

Apparently the guitarists are hitting their marks, with enthusiastic feedback from young metal heads side by side with that of seasoned classical collectors in their 70s. Search for these guys on YouTube and prepare to be awed.

A delighted Shostakovich rocks out (bottom right)