Frankfurter Museums-Gesellschaft e.V.

The Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz was a violinist, pianist and composer, taught at various conservatories and wrote short stories and novels - a multi-talented woman and an important representative of Polish music. Her original concerto for string orchestra is neo-baroque to neo-classical and yet unmistakably 20th century music.

If Grazyna Bacewicz's String Concerto is almost dainty, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 can certainly be described as monumental. The four-movement work is traditional in form, but experimental in style and still seems modern and innovative today, more than a hundred years after its premiere in 1913. With its huge variety of expression, its overflowing solo cadenzas in the outer movements and its crazy virtuosity, it is also considered one of the most difficult piano concertos in the entire literature.

Peter Tchaikovsky did not particularly appreciate his Fifth Symphony, which, like Beethoven's Fifth, contains a "fateful motif". It was "too colorful, too bulky, too insincere, too long, generally not very appealing". After the premiere, which he conducted, he felt compelled to make changes to the interpretation, including shortening the finale. It was not until the extremely positive reaction to this version that his doubts were dispelled. The 5th Symphony has long since established itself in the concert repertoire and is now one of the absolute audience favorites.

The Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra performs with Behzod Abduraimov at the piano and Anja Bihlmaier as conductor.

Photo: Nikolaj Lund

14.12., 11 am & 15.12., 8 pm (concert introduction one hour before the start with Andreas Bomba in the Great Hall)

Alte Oper, Großer Saal, Opernplatz 1, Frankfurt

2for1: price category 1 = 71 €, price category 2 = 62 € (tickets subject to availability)

10-13.12., advance booking Alte Oper, Mon-Fri 10-18.30 & Sat 10-14, tickets subject to availability