Friday, March 29

Tag: Vasily Petrenko

Grieg’s Piano Concerto – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
North West

Grieg’s Piano Concerto – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

“Easy on the banjos!” warned Eric Morecambe when André Previn (or Andrew Preview) famously attempted to conduct the Grieg Piano Concerto in the classic 1971 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special.  The one time I ever saw a banjo on stage with the RLPO my Facebook post quoting this zinging one-liner garnered precisely zero likes.  It must be a generation thing. For this 2024 performance, Liverpool welcomed back its prodigal son and former Chief Conductor, Vasily Petrenko. Turning from the podium, orchestra poised to start, to acknowledge an errant mobile phone ringtone with a wry raise of the eyebrow, he held the audience in the palm of his hand - comic timing worthy of the much-missed double act themselves. First on the programme was Bohuslav Martinů’s La Bagarre, composed ...
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Season Opening Concert – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
North West

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Season Opening Concert – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Domingo Hindoyan’s second season as Chief Conductor started in fine style with a programme of Central European masterpieces, with Janáček’s mighty orchestral Sinfonietta paired with Mahler’s heavenly song-symphony to herald – with trumpets and sleighbells respectively – the musical delights to come, including the Liverpool debut of the brilliant Czech soprano, Kateřina Kněžíková. Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) composed his Sinfonietta in 1926 with its first performance on 26th June of that year in Prague. A passionate and deeply patriotic Czech, he was thrilled when his homeland achieved independence at the end of World War I and dedicated the piece to the new Czech Army in celebration of ‘contemporary free man, his spiritual beauty and joy, his strength, courage, and determination to fight ...