Prokofiev and Stravinsky

Of Prokofiev’s five piano concertos, the Third is his most frequently performed and best loved. Since its premiere in Chicago in 1921, with the composer himself as soloist, it has remained a modern classic – music of great energy, yet also of elegance and melodic beauty.

The virtuosic solo part is performed here by the Czech pianist Lukáš Vondráček, who makes his debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Following his victory at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2016, he has established an international career and appeared with many leading orchestras and conductors.

The Firebird was the first of the three great ballets Igor Stravinsky composed for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris. Its richly coloured music is based on a Russian folk tale about Prince Ivan, who strays into an enchanted garden. The ballet was a sensation at its Paris premiere in 1910 and made the young Stravinsky a name across the musical world. The concert opens with another tale: Sofia Gubaidulina’s Fairy-Tale Poem, which tells of a piece of chalk dreaming of leaving the blackboard to draw wondrous castles and gardens instead.

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is led by Elim Chan, who first gained wide recognition when she won the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 2014 – as its first female winner. In recent seasons, she has appeared with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, including at the Last Night of the Proms.