This evening's program is built around the achievements of two exceptionally talented artists. Although he will be only 32 years old at the time of the concert, Sergey Khachatryan already has some incredible triumphs under his belt, having racked up victories at four of the world's most prestigious international competitions, winning the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels outright and taking second prize at the Indianapolis Competition and Vienna's Fritz Kreisler Competition. Tonight, he will be playing a piece by Johannes Brahms, who died 120 years ago this year: this eternally fresh violin concerto not only brings joy to the hearts of both audiences and performers alike, it also has a Hungarian connection, having been inspired by the playing of József Joachim.
Polina Pasztircsák is another artist who has demonstrated her unique talent, aptitude and crystal-clear voice to the world at major competitions: at the 2009 Concours de Genève, she won first prize and the audience prize along with three special prizes. Three years later, she also took a special prize at the ARD International Music Competition. Inspired by Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral work of the same name, Ravel wrote his sensitive and sensual, yet touchingly personal, song cycle to verses by Tristan Klingsor, and it has since become a deservedly popular part of the concert repertoire. The same can be said of Mussorgsky's piano series: already elemental in its power and almost unsurpassed in terms of it musical expressiveness and depiction, it became a truly new composition in Ravel's brilliant orchestral scoring and has remained an audience favourite for close to a hundred years.

Presented by: Hungarian National Philharmonic