Camille Saint-Saën’s 2nd Piano Concerto is one of the most striking examples of French piano art. It was created within two weeks at the request of his friend, Anton Rubinstein, for a concert in which the Russian pianist wanted to appear as a conductor in Paris. Despite the short time and the circumstances, Saint-Saëns achieved a masterpiece: the sequence of movements was original and completely new: slow-fast-even faster. Felix Mendelssohn traveled to the Scottish highlands in 1829. A visit to the crumbling chapel of the Stuart Palace in Edinburgh inspired him to write his 3rd Symphony: “Everything is broken there, rotten, and the serene sky shines through. “I think I found the beginning of my Scottish Symphony there today,” he wrote in a letter to his parents. That same evening he wrote down the first sketch for the A minor symphony, which he did not complete until twelve years later in Leipzig and Berlin.

The Ukrainian composer Victoria Poleva was born in Kyiv in 1962. Her symphonic, chamber music and choral works have been performed at contemporary music festivals worldwide.

The Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine is considered one of the best orchestras in Eastern Europe. Numerous well-known soloists such as Artur Rubinstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern and Jose Carreras have already performed with the national orchestra; Famous composers such as Sergei Prokofieff, Dmitri Shostakovich and Aram Khatchaturian entrusted the orchestra with the premieres of their works.

Pianist Pavel Kachnov initially studied at the University of Kiev and continued his education at the Vienna University of Music. As a winner of numerous international music competitions, he played at numerous European music festivals.

Volodymyr Sirenko has been the artistic director and chief conductor of the symphony orchestra since April 1999. Born in Ukraine in 1960, he graduated from the Kiev Conservatory. In 2001 he was awarded the ‘Shevchenko National Prize’ – Ukraine’s highest musical award.

‘The strings conjure up a lively vocal quality, the woodwinds have a fruity, penetrating maturity, and the brass could endanger the walls of Jericho, the percussion could raise the dead…’

Sydney Morning Herald

Programme

Victoria Poleva – Langsam

Camille Saint-Saëns – Piano Concerto Nr. 2, g-Moll, op. 22

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy – Symphony Nr. 3 ´ a-Moll, op. 56