Chopin's First Piano Concerto

Santtu-Matias Rouvali returns to the Concertgebouw Orchestra with Chopin and Schubert, two composers who each, in their own way, made their mark on Romanticism. Chopin’s flamboyant First Piano Concerto is in good hands with Seong-Jin Cho, the South Korean star pianist who debuted with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2015 when he was just twenty-one years old. Schubert, in his Sixth Symphony, transported his brilliant gift for captivating melodies to the symphony orchestra. And few conductors can bring out Schubert’s lyrical side like Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

A welcome addition to this programme is Louise Farrenc’s Overture No. 2. This French composer made a name for herself in the nineteenth-century music world, then dominated by men. Her music was highly regarded by Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, and others. And yet, for many years, she was overlooked. In fact, the Concertgebouw Orchestra has never played one of her works, making this a first not to be missed.