The official concert in celebration of the Athens State Orchestra’s 80th birthday could only be a glorious and gloriously musical event. The soprano Cellia Costea performs the lyrical Vocalise by the eminent Greek composer Nestor Taylor, while artistic director Loukas Karytinos conducts a new reading of Mahler’s “titanic” (and not in name alone!) First Symphony, one of the most popular and deeply moving symphonies of late Romanticism. At the heart of the programme, the legendary violin virtuoso Vadim Repin turns his sparkling virtuosity to a performance of a veritable heavy-weight of the violin repertoire.

Programme

NESTOR TAYLOR

(b. 1963)

Vocalise for soprano and orchestra

PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

(1840–1893)

Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35

GUSTAV MAHLER

(1904–1949)

Symphony No.1 “Titan”