Metamorphosis

Who would have imagined that the Classical style of Haydn and Mozart found its way to South America? One of its most remarkable representatives was José Maurício Nunes Garcia, born in Rio de Janeiro, where, under the patronage of the Portuguese royal court, he introduced audiences to the music of Mozart.

It is also less widely known that Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was not the only composer to depict the buzzing of insects in music. Antonino Pasculli, often called “the Paganini of the oboe,” also composed a dazzling virtuoso showpiece, Le Api (The Bees). This sparkling work is performed by one of today’s foremost oboists, the Brazilian-born Grammy Award-winning Alex Klein, who joins the MÁV Symphony Orchestra as both soloist and conductor.

The second half of the concert is devoted to two works by Richard Strauss. His Serenade for Winds, composed in his youth, is full of lyrical charm, while Metamorphosen reveals the profound tragedy of twentieth-century history through one of the composer’s most deeply moving late masterpieces.

CONDUCTOR AND OBOE SOLOIST
Alex Klein