GERMAN ROMANTICISM

The concert programme is a selection from the treasury of German Romanticism. Schumann composed his Piano Concerto in A minor for his distinguished pianist wife, who was the one to first perform the lovely, serene work. Brahms' Symphony No. 2 is also known as his Pastorale Symphony. In 1880, the University of Wrocław awarded Brahms an honorary doctorate, and in return for this honour, he composed the Tragic Overture (Op. 81) and the contrasting Academic Festival Overture (Op. 80).

Italian pianist Benedetto Lupo was bronze medalist at the highly prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1989. He is now head of the piano department at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. He performs extensively around the world, and has been a guest musician in numerous major cities in Europe and the USA. He has recorded all of Schumann's piano works. In 2018, to mark the 100th anniversary of Debussy's death, he performed all of Debussy's piano works. Martin Rajna graduated as a conductor from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, taught by renown teachers like Ádám Medveczky, András Ligeti and Gergely Ménesi. In 2021, he received a scholarship from the Péter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation. He was working as an assistant conductor in Győr between 2017 and 2019. Since 2017, he has been conducting regularly at the Hungarian State Opera.