The conductor for the evening, Hartmut Haenchen, was born in 1943, the same year Shostakovich composed a rarely heard symphony regarded as one of the greatest of all time. Symphony No. 8, despite the ideological requirements placed upon it, is tragic and dark in tone, and bears the subtitle 'Stalingrad' in memory of the bloodiest battle of the Second World War, and perhaps of all world history. Although he spent the first 20 years of his career in East Germany, Hartmut Haenchen is one of the most important opera conductors in Western Europe. After settling in the Netherlands in 1986, he became one of the most prominent figures in the country's musical life. In the first part of the performance, Haenchen will conduct Brahms's timeless violin concerto with the solo played by an artist familiar to our audiences. As one of Hungary's most outstanding young violinists, the 40-year-old Kossuth Prize-winner Kristóf Baráti has built a successful international career and recorded several acclaimed albums. Baráti has a monumental sound and the resonance of his Stradivari ('Lady Harmsworth', 1703) is improbably rich beneath his bow - as if not one, but two or three violins were playing together in perfect unity.' (Kristóf Csengery, revizoronline.hu)

Presented by: Hungarian National Philharmonic