Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla & Beatrice Rana

The Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla is one of the most sought-after conductors overall, since she took over as successor of Andris Nelsons the leadership of City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 2016. Now leading our orchestra for the first time, in an original program that shows how carefully she chooses her engagements and focuses. To begin with, there is Symphony No. 5 by Mieczysław Weinberg, with whose opera 'The Idiot' she will debut at Salzburg Festivals in 2024. Ralph Vaughan Williams also belongs to 'her' composers: The 'Fantasie over a Theme by Thomas Tallis' has been accompanying her for a long time. She said she is always 'overwhelmed by the beauty and harmony' of this music in an interview. Just as Vaughan Williams was inspired by Tallis' Renaissance sounds, Rachmaninoff varied a theme from Paganini: respectfully and independently at the same time. The solo part in this work will be taken by the Italian pianist Beatrice Rana: She introduced herself to the Zurich audience in 2012 as part of Série jeunes, now playing for the first time with our orchestra.