Klaus Mäkelä conducts Beethoven's Symphony No. 7

Lisa Batiashvili has been one of our most popular guest soloists for the last twenty-five years. And for good reason! Be there when she throws herself wholeheartedly into Sibelius’s enigmatic Violin Concerto. Klaus Mäkelä has a deep connection with Sibelius, who single-handedly put Finland on the classical music map with his utterly unique music, inevitably bearing witness to the country’s vast natural landscapes. His violin concerto leaves no listener unmoved. The solo part is so perfectly crafted that it seems to speak directly to each of us as individuals.

We open the concert with one of Schumann’s best symphonic works, the Manfred Overture. After the interval, Beethoven’s irresistibly rhythmic Symphony No. 7 emanates an unprecedented vitality. The premiere in 1813 was one of the greatest successes of Beethoven’s career. The audience immediately called for the second movement to be played again, a movement which would soon take on a life of its own and can still be heard in films and television series. Even 200 years after his death, Beethoven is everywhere. We just can’t get enough!