He was an accomplished journalist, playwright, poet, pianist, editor, archaeologist, mathematician, lepidopterist, organist, astronomer, geologist, philosopher, and botanist in his day, but Camille Saint-Saëns will forever be known, first and foremost, as a classical composer. While on an Egyptian vacation in 1896, this polymathic Frenchman wrote his final piano concerto, creating a three-part, 30-minute soundscape of fascinating emotions and intriguing orchestral interplay. It’s quite fitting that Stephen Hough (a modern-day Renaissance man in his own right) joins our hometown orchestra as soloist to perform this astounding concerto tonight through Monday. Fueled by his celebrated diet of fine dark chocolate and loose-leaf tea, the unrelenting Hough will rip through the work’s pyrotechnic finale to remind listeners that the piano is, without question, a percussion instrument. BRIAN HORAY