Festival Warm Up Concert: Tra Mondi - Between Worlds | Anteprima Cornèr Banca

Grigori Sokolov describes the talent of pianist Alexandra Dovgan, born in 2007, as exceptional - she is not just a child prodigy, but a mature personality with impressive depth in her playing. This year, Alexandra Dovgan is making her debut at Carnegie Hall and the Berlin Philharmonie.

In 1808, Beethoven premiered his Piano Concerto No. 4 as both soloist and conductor. The reactions of the Viennese audience ranged from enthusiasm to exhaustion, as the work was embedded in a concert marathon lasting over four hours. The fact that Beethoven knocked the candlestick away from the piano while conducting also caused a sensation. His pupil Carl Czerny compared Beethoven's appearance while playing to Robinson Crusoe, whose "pitch-black hair bristled shaggy around his head".

Less wild, but fully bearded and wearing a dark frock coat, 51-year-old Antonin Dvořák traveled to America with his wife and two of his children. The journey by ship from Bremen to New Jersey took nine days. Dvořák had been commissioned by a patron to develop an independent American national music as director of the New York Conservatory. The premiere of his Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" on December 17, 1893 was to become the musical event of the century in New York. In fact, the premiere of the "Ninth" in the famous Carnegie Call was met with rapturous applause - the beginning of a success story that continues to this day.

Alexandra Dovgan, piano
Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano
Emanuel Tjeknavorian, conductor

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major op. 58

Intermission

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Symphony No. 9 in E minor op. 75 "From the New World"