Artists:

• Oksana Hretchyn, violin
• Andrii Tchaikovskyi, violin
• Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
• Theodore Kuchar, conductor

Program:

• Ludwig van Beethoven. Overture “King Stephen” Op. 117
• Ignacy Moshkovsky. Suite for Two Violins and Orchestra, Op. 71 (orchestrated by Carl Topilow)
• Robert Schumann. Symphony No. 2, op. 61

The evening’s program has its own drama: from festive splendor – through late romantic sophistication – to music that passes through the darkness and emerges in triumph.

The evening opens with Beethoven’s Overture “King Stephen”. In 1811, the composer was commissioned to write music for the opening of a new theater in Pest. The institution was financed by the Austrian Emperor Francis I, seeking to strengthen Hungary’s loyalty to the Habsburgs, and the play by August von Kotzebue glorified King Stephen I, the founder of the Kingdom of Hungary around 1000. Beethoven wrote the overture and nine vocal numbers that summer, while relaxing on the waters in the Bohemian town of Teplice. Unlike his dramatic “Egmont” or “Coriolanus”, the overture to “King Stephen” is festively brilliant, with Hungarian intonations and a lush solemn character.

Moritz Moszkowski is a Polish-born composer and pianist of late Romanticism. His Suite op. 71 will be performed in orchestral form – arranged by the American conductor Carl Topilow. It is a rare opportunity to hear Moszkowski outside the piano repertoire.

Schumann’s Second Symphony began to take shape in late 1845, shortly after his recovery from a nervous breakdown. His comment to Mendelssohn at the time—“drums and trumpets have been playing in my head for some time”—reads as an ironic reflection on his own disturbed mental state with auditory hallucinations. The outline of the symphony took less than a week, but completion, delayed by bouts of illness and, worse, by a loss of self-confidence, took almost a year. It is a grand orchestral concept: a score that begins confidently with a heroic first movement and a wildly fast scherzo, followed by a passionate slow movement and a triumphant finale.

A special part of the season closing on July 5 will be the participation of musicians from a German orchestra, who will voluntarily join our program to support Ukrainians. The initiative came from the musicians themselves—they expressed a desire to come and perform with our orchestra. As part of the visit, the guests will also hold master classes for the participants, which will be a valuable opportunity for professional exchange and creative cooperation.

Among the participants in the visit are musicians from the Elbland Sachsen Philharmonic: Ralf Schmidt (trombone), Andreas Dude (double bass), Heidrun Pollini (violin), Uta Maria Lempert (violin), Norbert Schröder (cello), Franziska Weiss (viola), Tim Weidig (percussion), Gauke Leist (horn), Christoph Herbert (oboe) and Olaf Georghi (flute), who will join the concert program and work together with the orchestra musicians as part of the creative exchange.