Estimated duration

2 h, incl. intermission

Organizer

Helsingin kaupunginorkesteri

Gabriela Ortiz's music combines modern orchestral thinking with the rhythmic energy of Mexican urban and folk musical traditions.

Olari Elts, conductor
David Kadouch, piano

Gabriela Ortiz: Clara (first performance in Finland)
Clara Wieck Schumann: Piano Concerto
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4

Gabriela Ortiz is one of the most significant Latin American composers of her generation, whose music combines modern orchestral thinking with the rhythmic energy of Mexican urban and folk musical traditions. Her works often include influences from Latin American dance traditions and popular music genres. At the same time, they are built on modern orchestral arrangements, rich timbre and broad dramaturgical curves.

Clara Wieck, wife of composer Robert Schumann, was already one of Europe’s leading piano virtuosos at the age of 18. She premiered her own piano concerto at the age of 14, with Felix Mendelssohn conducting the orchestra. For French pianist David Kadouch, performing works by Clara Wieck Schumann is a matter of the heart.

On 11 December 1936, an advertisement was published in a Leningrad newspaper in which the composer Dmitri Shostakovich appealed to the orchestra and asked it to refrain from performing his Fourth Symphony in public. In the Soviet Union, self-censorship by artists was a necessary means of survival. It took 25 years before Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony was premiered.