The audience of the MÁV Symphony Orchestra concerts can often meet world-famous soloists and conductors. This time, the orchestra's guest soloist will be the Grammy-winning classical violinist Augustin Hadelich, one of the greatest violinists of our time. The program will include masterpieces by Enescu, Brahms and Tchaikovsky, conducted by András Keller, on December 1, 2022 at the Academy of Music.
Grammy-winning (2016) classical violinist Augustin Hadelich was born in Italy in 1984. He started playing the violin at the age of five, and became famous as the child prodigy. He was taught by world-famous violinists like Uto Ughi and Igor Ozim. He was seriously injured in a house fire at the age of fifteen, but he continued his studies after a gap year. Following his studies at the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali "Pietro Mascagni" conservatory in Livorno, he graduated from the Juilliard School in New York, and has been living in the United States ever since. After winning the prestigious International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (2006), he went on stage with major orchestras (New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Montreal, Toronto), and he also regularly performs in Europe and Asia (Munich, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Hong Kong). His brilliant technique, poetic sentiment and magnificent soundscape are recognized all over the world. His instrument is a "Leduc/Szeyng" Guarneri del Gesu violin from 1744.
With the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, Hadelich will perform Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major. The piece was premiered in Leipzig on January 1, 1879, with the Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by the composer. The soloist was his friend, Joseph Joachim. Critics at the time wrote that the work was not composed for the violin, but 'against the violin'. They criticized the thickness of the orchestral texture, the over-emphasis on the orchestra's role, and the large oboe solo in the adagio. However, for the solo violinist, playing this piece is an extraordinary task, requiring a very high level of instrumental knowledge and musicality. And indeed, here the solo instrument is the 'violino principale', the dominant violin, but not a tyrannical one: it lives in loving harmony with its people, the orchestra throughout the entire piece. The Violin Concerto gives the listener the experience of an inimitable masterpiece, conceived in an astonishingly perfect unity of melodies, rhythms, harmonies, forms and emotional expression.
The concert will open with George Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, in which the composer processes a series of folk dance melodies. Enescu’s oeuvre and personality contributed significantly to the development of the 20th century Romanian musical culture.
The evening will conclude with Tchaikovsky's final work, the Symphony in B minor. The composer dubbed the piece "Pathetic", and died merely eight days after the premiere. Following three movements of very different character, the last movement is a truly poignantly dramatic death-music. Based on the music, it is widely believed that he may have sensed his impending death; however, the composer's revelations at the time were a testimony to his vitality.
The concert will be conducted by violinist András Keller, principal conductor of Concerto Budapest. His artistic work has been recognized with the Liszt Prize, the title of Artist of Merit, the Bartók-Pásztory Prize, and in 2021, the Kossuth Prize.
