Principal Guest Conductor Pekka Kuusisto brings fellow countryman Sibelius’ beloved Violin Concerto, which he has played throughout his career. This time, he leads the orchestra himself, with violin in hand.
Jean Sibelius was an outstanding violinist, but never really broke through as a virtuoso. The Violin Concerto in D Minor (1905) can be seen as a tribute to the instrument and its various expressions, with powerful intensity and Nordic melancholy. In Pekka Kuusisto’s interpretation, the concerto is continuously fresh and new.
“There is reason to see the concert as less of a heroic tale, and more as something channeled from the earth, or from the ancestors – as a kind of shamanistic event.”
Pekka Kuusisto
The evening begins with Andrea Tarrodi’s Birds of Paradise, in which the orchestra vibrates with the forces of nature and birdsong. To conclude, Kuusisto exchanges his violin for the conductor’s baton again to lead the Gothenburg Symphony in Tchaikovsky’s emotionally charged Symphony No. 5.
The concert is also performed on the Gothenburg Symphony’s tour to Amsterdam and Dublin.
Come closer
Have a seat in the Great Hall an hour before the concert and let the introduction open the door to the stories behind the works, facts about the composers and personal reflections. The introduction is included in your ticket, lasts about 30 minutes and has free seating in the hall.
