Grieg and Dvořák – Musical festive joy

Christmas matinee: request concert with a surprise gift

Our Christmas matinee is effectively a request concert. Edvard Grieg’s rousing piano concerto and Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony, filled with the sounds of nature, have become classics of the repertoire, their folkloristic style lending universal appeal. The matinee is also a surprise gift thanks to the young performers: Awaiting discovery is the 18-year-old Russian pianist Alexandra Dovgan, whose high profile concert appearances have been praised euphorically by critics, leaving her little time to win further competitions. Upon the podium is the Portuguese conductor Dinis Sousa, representing an up-and-coming new generation of young conductors. The 36-year-old principal conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia in England is celebrated internationally in major concert halls and opera houses and also directs his own orchestra, Orquestra XXI, comprised of top Portuguese musicians. Sousa has worked closely with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and is deputy conductor of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra. In other words, he is a conductor equally at home with early, Romantic and contemporary music. Similarly, Dovgan is passionate about Romantic repertoire right up to Rachmaninov, yet has also played Mozart with Baroque specialist Ton Koopman. However, the real surprise gift on this Sunday morning may well be the way in which the new generation brings the Romanticism of Grieg and Dvořák to life.