About
Beethoven, in particular, moved humanity through his symphonies – and continues to do so today. It's remarkable that he only composed one opera, but even here, he brought his ideals to life: truth, freedom, and justice. The opera's initial title was not "Fidelio," but "Leonore," and we will perform one of the four overtures from 1806, which captures the opera's key dramatic moments musically. Afterwards, we will hear a brand-new concert from the Finnish homeland of our guest conductor, John Storgårds: The composer is Osmo Tapio Räihälä, who began his career as a rock musician and now offers listeners entirely new sonic and listening experiences with his extraordinary works, which, in his own words, always have a "powerful pulse." He specifically wrote the violin concerto for our solo cellist, Wen Xiao Zheng. Following this, we will hear music by the Polish-British composer, Andrzej Panufnik, who sought a "balance between feeling and intellect" in his compositions. We will present the 1965 premiere of the piece "Landscape," which offers a moving orchestral journey into nature. The musical journey will be extended by a work by Sibelius, who saw Beethoven as a great role model and was even considered by contemporary critics to be an equally important symphonist. The late Romantic national composer was able to wonderfully transform the vastness of the Finnish forests and lakes into sound – and, in his sixth symphony from 1923, he described it as containing "pure spring water."
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