On the one hand, the Ostrava debut of the German conductor Christoph Altstaedt, on the other, the Italian pianist Federico Colli, who repeatedly won the Ostrava audience. And with them a concert of concerts and a confession of the soul, which still enchants today with its drama and beauty.

Robert Schumann
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 54

Jean Sibelius
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43

Federico Colli – piano
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Christoph Altstaedt – conductor

Although Robert Schumann’s promising career as a piano virtuoso was ruined by an injury to his right hand, he has gone down in music history as a talented composer and an insightful music critic. The creation of his Piano Concerto is linked to his love affair with the young genius pianist Clara Wieck, who became the composer’s wife a few years later. Schumann originally intended to compose a one-movement work, but at his wife’s request, he expanded the concerto into a three-movement work in 1845. In her performance, the work was an extraordinary success, and to this day it remains a “concerto of concertos” in the rankings of world music literature.

“My Second Symphony is a confession of the soul,” said the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius in a letter about his work. Yet Finnish audiences understood the symphony, even at its premiere, as an expression of the struggle for independence from Russia. This was due not only to the grandiose Beethovenian finale of the whole work but also to the timing. The composition was written in 1901-1902, immediately after the successful performance of Sibelius’s nationally-themed symphonic poem Finlandia. The Second Symphony is a thrilling work that ranks among the composer’s most popular compositions and continues to enchant listeners today with its drama and beauty.

The concert will be the Ostrava debut of the German conductor Christoph Altstaedt, who will be accompanied by the leading Italian pianist Federico Colli, who has already won over the Ostrava audience several times.