Watkins. Shostakovich. Schumann
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István Várdai — cello
Angus Webster — conductor
Huw Watkins
Dawning (Czech premiere)
Dmitri Shostakovich
Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107
Robert Schumann
Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61
We welcome two international stars at our sixth orchestral evening – conductor Angus Webster and cellist István Várdai.
Dawning, written in 2020 by contemporary British composer Huw Watkins for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, joins other Czech premieres this season. The world premiere was conducted a few years ago by Angus Webster, who was so enchanted by Watkins's academically refined yet highly accessible music that he included it in his Prague debut program.
The modernist spirit continues with Dmitri Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto, one of the most challenging and frequently performed works in the concert repertoire. The solo part, originally written for the legendary virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich, will be performed by Hungarian cellist István Várdai, first prize winner at the prestigious ARD Competition in Munich and current artistic director of the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.
The evening concludes with Schumann's technically demanding Second Symphony, which "is full of sunshine," according to conductor Angus Webster, who has a strong personal connection to the piece. Schumann managed to complete this symphony before his "year of mourning," during which he lost his friends Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn and his sixteen-month-old son. Mendelssohn himself conducted the premiere of this symphony in 1846.
