Viola concert: Petr Popelka & Antoine Tamestit

Alfred Schnittke Violakonzert
Robert Schumann Sinfonie Nr. 2 C-Dur op. 61

The Czech Petr Popelka started out as a double bass player, but then quickly moved to the conductor's podium; from the 2024/25 season, he will be chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. For his debut with us, he has chosen Schumann's Symphony No. 2 – that's right, the one with the irresistible perpetuum mobile in the scherzo. There is also Alfred Schnittke's Viola Concerto, which demands everything from the soloist Antoine Tamestit. On the one hand, physically, because he plays almost continuously for the entire thirty minutes (he once said that it wouldn't work without stretching). And also emotionally: this music sounds cynical, tender and fragile – right up to the sombre end.