The world-renowned violinist Maxim Vengerov joins the MSO to perform the fiendishly difficult Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky. Full of soaring melodies, melancholy and virtuosity, this work has rightfully claimed its place amongst the great violin concertos of all time. Scheherazade tells the story of a slave girl having to amuse the gruesome sultan by telling him a new story every night. Several of these come together in Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful oriental fantasy; a highlight in the Russian orchestral repertoire and the ideal work for an ensemble of virtuosos like the MSO. Allow the MSO to transport you into the world of a thousand-and-one nights.
Lucerne Festival 2017: Long Yu conducts Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich
For the first time ever, a Chinese symphony orchestra is performing at Lucerne Festival. If yet more evidence that classical music has long since become a global language were needed, it would be this appearance by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under music director Long Yu. Their concert is dedicated to Russian composers, among them Tchaikovsky whose immortal Violin Concerto is performed by one of the leading virtuosos of our time: Maxim Vengerov and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.
Magic Moments of Music – Nigel Kennedy and the Four Seasons
It is a recording that is shaking up the classical music scene. Suddenly, an audience feels addressed that until then had heard little of classical music, of Bach or Vivaldi. Nigel Kennedy succeeds in overcoming the fears of an audience for whom Schubert and Beethoven had previously been too elitist and too aloof. He inspires as many and as varied people as probably few classical music stars before him. The CD with a recording of the Four Seasons becomes the best-selling classical album of all time. Nigel Kennedy enter the Guinness Book of Records: more than 3 million records sold. The album stays at the top of the UK classical charts for over a year and also reaches high positions in the pop charts. The tabloids and magazines pounce on the young artist. The recording of this tour, which sells out within minutes, becomes one of music‘s finest moments. With wildly gelled hair and in unusual designer garb, Nigel Kennedy appears before his audience. He succeeds in addressing his listeners simply, without airs and graces, and in introducing them to his world without creating any hurdles.