HUNGARIAN ORCHESTRA’S DEBUT TOUR

AFTER two years of pandemic lockdown, concert life is gradually getting back to normal, and on June 9 Symphony Hall welcomes Concerto Budapest on its debut tour to this country.

Andras Keller, Concerto’s chief conductor, is thrilled at the prospect.

“Going on tours again is crucial for us. Now, we can travel again, and to the UK at that! The mere fact that we are among the first orchestras to tour there is a great honour.”

Concerto Budapest’s programme combines one of Hungary’s greatest works, Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, with masterpieces by Mozart and Beethoven, as Andras explains.

“In Birmingham, we’ll take to the stage with some emblematic pieces of the classical repertoire, as Bartók’s Concerto is perhaps one of the greatest symphonic works of the 20th century. It is both national and European music, addresses everyone and incorporates the ideal of the fraternity of peoples.

“Bartók is the heir and successor of Beethoven’s revolutionary art and legacy. It is, therefore, a great experience to play Beethoven and Bartók at the same concert. Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 hooks both the audience and the performers every time since the content and expressivity of the composition gets at our guts. There are no words to say something new about it, but hopefully, with our hearts and our expression, we’ll be able to.

“Mozart’s marvellous Piano Concerto in A major, K488 can delight anyone anywhere in the world. In today’s turbulent world, when the fundamental values of humanity are questioned, we might need classical values and art more than ever.

Soloist in the Mozart piano concerto is the renowned Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt.

She said: “This was, I think, the first Mozart Concerto I played, along with the No.9 K271. So they both occupy a special place in my heart and my mind. It’s also very easy to play them (well not easy, but…!) because when you learn a piece so young it stays with you in a way that a piece learned much later in life doesn’t.’’

Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra perform at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on June 9 (7.30pm).