Celebrating the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra will tour Serbia where it will give concerts in Belgrade and Kragujevac, featuring as soloist the world-renowned pianist Cyprien Katsaris under the direction of the CySO Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Jens Georg Bachmann. The tour is organized in collaboration with the Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment and the Kragujevac City Council.
Within the spirit of bringing contemporary Cypriot musical creation outside the confines of Cyprus and sharing it with audiences in Europe and beyond, the CySO will be premiering in Serbia a commissioned new composition by Cypriot composer Tasos Stylianou. Stylianou’s piece, titled Green Line, approaches the rich musical traditions of Cyprus through the lens of the 21st century.
Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides” overture was inspired by a journey around Scotland in 1829 during which he sailed into Fingal’s Cave at the island of Staffa in the Hebrides Archipelago. The work was premiered on the 14th of May 1832 in London. The music is deeply evocative of the sea as well as the breathtaking scenery and awe-inspiring forces of nature at Fingal’s Cave.
If your picture of Beethoven is that of a dramatic, dark personality whose tragic life events shaped
both him and his music, then his Third Piano Concerto is the man personified! Composed in 1800 during a critical time for Beethoven who was struggling to come to terms with poor health and an increasing awareness that his hearing might have been irretrievably damaged. When the rest cure at Heiligenstadt didn’t work, and in the famous testament of the same name, the composer wrote to his brothers that it was only music that prevented him from killing himself. Knowing how the composer was suffering seems to put all the dark drama of the C minor Piano Concerto into context.
Mendelssohn composed his 1st Symphony at the young age of 15. It is an early masterpiece of great symphonic writing, musical imagination and power of depiction which exhibits many expressive and stylistic elements of early romanticism.
Tasos Stylianou: Green Line (premiere)
Mendelssohn: The Hebrides Overture
v. Beethoven: Piano concerto no. 3 in C minor, op. 37
Mendelssohn: Symphony no.1 in C minor, op. 11
Soloist: Cyprien Katsaris (piano)
Conductor: Jens Georg Bachmann
Booking & Event Information
Belgrade: Thursday 11 October 2018
Concert Hall of the Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment
Kragujevac: Friday 12 October 2018
