Musica Vitae

Växjö-based Musica Vitae guest perform, with new artistic director Benjamin Schmid (who succeeded Malin Broman in the position in autumn 2020). Born in Vienna, Schmid is an incredibly versatile violinist. He has recorded around 50 albums and his repertoire also includes jazz, for example. 

Benjamin Schmid is the soloist in Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2, nicknamed La Campanella, after the little bell heard in the third movement and which the orchestra and solo section also imitate. Schmid and Musica Vitae also perform rarely heard music by Schmid’s fellow countryman Joseph Lanner (1801–43), considered by many to be the inventor of the Viennese waltz.

The concerto is framed by two classics of the repertoire for string orchestra. The early Divertimento composed by a 16-year-old Mozart consists of quick and elegant outer movements surrounding a lovely andante. Dvorák’s Serenade in E-major is one of his most popular pieces. It was composed in 1875 during a happy time in his life: he was newly married and a new father – and was simultaneously starting to gain recognition as a great composer.