The Piano Concerto series

The Piano Concerto series will begin in November, under the direction of Olari Elts. The soloist for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 will be Kalle Randalu, who most recently performed all of Beethoven’s piano concertos with ERSO, but it is in fact Mozart whose music he has recorded and released on albums the most. ‘I have loved Mozart my whole life and when possible, I play his works again and again. He is the greatest gift, and not just for pianists, but for music lovers in general,’ Randalu told Postimees in an interview. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 is tied with another work being performed by Randalu, Toshio Hosokawa’s Lotus Under the Moonlight, which is a homage to the beloved composer. On the same evening, we will be hearing music by another Japanese composer, Tōru Takemitsu, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 39.

Conductor Giordano Bellincampi will be returning to Estonia in January. The Music Director of the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra will be perform with ERSO for the fourth time. The young Italian pianist Leonardo Colafelice was last set to perform with ERSO in 2022, together with Bellincampi, but circumstances at the time forced him to find a new soloist. This season, we look forward to the return of the talented young pianist to perform with ERSO, and the programme includes a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The concert will also feature other works by German composers. The concert will begin with the overture from Carl Maria von Weber’s opera Euryanthe, which, despite the failure of the opera itself, has remained a popular work in the concert repertoire. The second half will feature a performance of Richard Strauss’ musical autobiography Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life).

Dutch conductor Bas Wiegers performs with ERSO often. Their collaboration began in 2016, at the Eight Bridges Festival in Cologne. Since the 2022/23 season, the charismatic conductor works with the Munich Chamber Orchestra and appears regularly as a guest conductor for various orchestras around the world. Wiegers most recently performed with ERSO in April 2022, when Triin Ruubel was the soloist for a performance of Tōru Takemitsu’s work Nostalghia. The time, the person to share the stage with Wiegers and ERSO is the pianist Age Juurikas, who will be performing Manuel de Falla’s work Nights in the Gardens of Spain. De Falla is deemed one of Spain’s most important composers whose influence stretches across Europe – before his time, Spanish music and folk traditions were virtually unknown outside the Iberian Peninsula. The concert will also feature Igor Stravinsky’s legendary work The Rite of Spring and Liina Sumera’s new piece, written especially for this concert.

In 2022, Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt gave a very successful solo concert in the Estonia Concert Hall, which included the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Hewitt is dedicated in particular to the interpretation of the music of Bach and in this respect, she is considered the heir to her famous compatriot, Glenn Gould. In March 2024, Hewitt will be back in Estonia and she will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 with ERSO. As with the previous concert in the series, we will be hearing the work of Manuel de Falla . The second half of the concert will continue with the theme of Spain, with a performance of Maurice Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole. The concert will be conducted by French conductor Pierre Bleuse, who is the Chief Conductor of the Odense Symphony Orchestra and, from the 2023/24 season, Music Director of the renowned contemporary music ensemble Ensemble intercontemporain.

I: ELTS AND RANDALU

Friday, 10 November 2023

at 7 p.m.

Tōru Takemitsu. Tree Line

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Piano Concerto No. 23 A major, K. 488

Toshio Hosokawa. Toshio Hosokawa’s Lotus Under the Moonlight (Hommage à Mozart)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543

KALLE RANDALU on piano, ERSO, conductor OLARI ELTS

II: BELLINCAMPI AND COLAFELICE

Friday, 19 January 2024

at 7 p.m.

Carl Maria von Weber. Overture to the opera Euryanthe

Ludwig van Beethoven. Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

Richard Strauss. Symphonic poem Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40

LEONARDO COLAFELICE on piano, ERSO, conductor GIORDANO BELLINCAMPI

III: BAS WIEGERS AND AGE JUURIKAS

Friday, 2 February 2024

at 6 p.m. (pre-concert)

at 7 p.m.

Liina Sumera. New work

Manuel de Falla. Nights in the Gardens of Spain

Igor Stravinsky. Rite of Spring

AGE JUURIKAS on piano, ERSO, conductor BAS WIEGERS

IV: PIERRE BLEUSE AND ANGELA HEWITT

Friday, 15 March 2024

at 7 p.m.

Manuel de Falla.  ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ from the ballet El amor brujo (Love the Magician)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466

Maurice Ravel.  Rapsodie espagnole

Claude Debussy. Three symphonic sketches La Mer

ANGELA HEWITT on piano, ERSO, conductor PIERRE BLEUSE