Dvorák's Violin Concerto

Since Jennifer Pike won BBC Young Musician in 2002, she has evolved from child prodigy into mature musician, winning accolades for her exemplary technique and dazzling interpretations. With an impressively broad repertoire, she currently works with orchestras all over the world and with conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Leif Segerstam and Jirí Belohlávek. Tonight she will solo in Dvorák’s Violin Concerto, one of his most beloved works which has captured the world with its folk-inspired melodies since 1883.

Can words be translated into music? It is a question that inspires British Sally Beamish (born 1956 in London). As a literary building block for A Cage of Doves, she selected a story about two cousins’ childhoods in twelfth-century Orkney. The work is an excellent starting point for anyone wishing to become familiar with Beamish’s original and attractive music.

Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste’s exceptional versatility has led to major accomplishments on the international scene. Saraste has an affinity for the late-Romantic repertoire, but often works with music by contemporary composers. Since 2010, he has been chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, and has worked with the foremost orchestras in the world. He has also had a close relationship with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra for decades.

In this programme, he will conduct Brahms’ fourth and final symphony, a monumental work in which – ever the diligent student – Brahms’ interest in the forms of times gone by is discernible. This is especially the case in the symphony’s final movement, which references to both Johann Sebastian Bach and French Baroque opera.