Experience a guaranteed sound rush when the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and Ray Chen tackle Tchaikovsky's luscious Violin Concerto. The top violinist presents himself as always both virtuosic and approachable. Ray Chen, also a social media star, believes musicians should be ambassadors for their art, making classical music accessible through entertaining videos and flawless performances.
»Listen carefully to all folk songs! They are a treasure trove of the most beautiful melodies and open your eyes to the nature of different cultures.« Robert Schumann once noted these wise words in his collection of »Musical House and Life Rules« – and Jakub Hrůša loves to rummage through the various treasure chests of late Romanticism with its manifold folkloristic styles. He constantly includes pieces by his beloved composer Dvořák on the programme – even the lesser-known ones, as he sees him as an artist »who is always interesting, in every work«. And so we now have the rarely performed »Heldenlied« to discover: a tone poem from 1898, which grippingly revolves around different moods from happiness to sorrow. For one of the most famous violin concertos from 1878, which we have long had on our wish list, we welcome Ray Chen, a gifted virtuoso: he loves playing with us and can now immerse himself in the emotions alongside our orchestra – because the often emotionally fragile Tchaikovsky always wanted to express »all the agony and ecstasy of love« in his music. For fans of sophisticated melodic works, we conclude with a large load of these: the Symphony No. 5 by Martinů, one of Jakub Hrůša’s favourite composers, revels in his typical soundscapes – with a rich array of colours, yearning parts, pulsating rhythms and hymn-like pathos.
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