Opening Concert: Contemporary and Cult Masters

Keep your eyes on the Far East! Says a widely shared view that the future of classical music lies not only in Europe and the United States, but also in Asia. It is not just the young virtuoso musicians that are discovered year in year out that mark the rise of the East, but also the fusion that is creating its own colours and forms by bringing together the two worlds. The First Far Eastern Classical Music Festival, launched by Gábor Farkas, showcases the rich musical culture of Japan. Sunday evening's gala concert will focus on bamboo instruments and the classic sounds of Japanese music.

First, we will hear, Chimera, a piece by Miho Hazama (*1986), a supremely talented talented young composer, that one critic has compared to Relativity, Escher's picture where stairs and corridors turn back on themselves. It will be followed by a viola concerto from Toshio Hosokawa (*1955), one of the most acclaimed composers in his home country, who has also enjoyed success in Munich, Lucerne, Venice and Warsaw. The soloist in this concerto is Luosha Fang, a young string player who has studied in Shanghai, Philadelphia and New York. With Mozart's music having enjoyed a cult following in Japan for decades and Beethoven's popularity soaring ever higher in the post-war reconstruction years, it seems fitting that the Viennese classics should be included. Mozart's Violin Concerto in A major (K. 219) is performed by Akiko Suwanai, the youngest winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1990 at the age of eighteen. To follow, with a change of instrument but no change of key: the soloist for the Piano Concerto in A major (K. 488) will be Gábor Farkas, followed by two soloists accompanying the cellist István Várdai, who will perform Beethoven's Triple Concerto, which in music history terms is a truly maverick composition. The evening will feature the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra.

Programme

Miho Hazama: Chimera for strings

Toshio Hosokawa: Voyage VI, for Viola and Strings - viola concerto
Soloist: Luosha Fang (viola)
Conductor: Toshifumi Kanai

Mozart: Violin Concerto in A major, No. 5, K 219
Soloist: Akiko Suwanai (violin)

pause

Mozart: Piano Concerto in A major, K 488
Soloist: Gábor Farkas (piano)

Beethoven: Triple Concerto in C major for piano, violin and cello, Op. 56.
Participants: Akiko Suwanai (violin), Gábor Farkas (piano), István Várdai (cello)

The Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra will take part in the concert.