Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, with Yutaka Sado and Angela Hewitt

In the centenary year of legendary American composer-conductor, Leonard Bernstein, we’re pleased to open this concert with a swinging set of orchestral miniatures based on his hit musical, On the Town. It’s a long way from Times Square to Leipzig, but the world’s most garlanded Bach pianist, Angela Hewitt, will ensure that it’s worth the journey. Directing the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra from the keyboard, she’ll be performing two contrasting concertos: the florid, Italianate BWV 1052 and the exquisite miniature BWV 1056. Yutaka Sado wields the baton for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Four opening hammer blows – arguably the most famous notes in classical music – declare the composer’s revolutionary intent that laid the foundations for generations of composers to come. With fiercely concentrated energy throughout, it ignites in a blazing finale where Beethoven provides extra firepower by adding a piccolo, contrabassoon and trombones to the symphony orchestra for the first time.

Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Angela Hewitt in conversation.

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