THE NUTCRACKER
The question is whether any other composer has written a greater number of captivating tunes than Tchaikovsky? In the ballet Nutcracker the hits are following one after the other: Waltz of the Flowers and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Then follows a musical suite from the Russian-British composer Elena Langer’s opera Figaro Gets a Divorces, a freestanding sequel to Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. The concert is presented under the baton of rising star Anna Rakitina, assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Participants
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a multiple-award-winning ensemble renowned for its high artistic standard and stylistic breadth, as well as collaborations with the world’s finest composers, conductors, and soloists. It regularly tours all over Europe and the world and has an extensive and acclaimed recording catalogue.
Daniel Harding has been Music Director of the SRSO since 2007, and since 2019 also its Artistic Director. His tenure will last throughout the 2024/2025 season. Two of the orchestra’s former chief conductors, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa-Pekka Salonen, have since been named Conductors Laureate, and continue to perform regularly with the orchestra.
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, and is a cornerstone of Swedish public service broadcasting. Its concerts are heard weekly on the Swedish classical radio P2 and regularly on national public television SVT. Several concerts are also streamed on-demand on Berwaldhallen Play and broadcast globally through the EBU.
Born in Moscow to a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother, Anna Rakitina grew up in a musical family and began her education as a violinist before she studied conducting at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of Stanislav Diachenko. From 2016 to 2018 she studied conducting in Hamburg with Prof. Ulrich Windfuhr and graduated with a diploma. She was finalist of ‘Das kritische Orchester’ in Berlin in 2018, participated in the conducting fellowship scheme of the Lucerne Festival Academy led by Alan Gilbert and Bernard Haitink, and attended masterclasses with Gennadiy Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Jurowski and Johannes Schlaefli. In 2022, she participated in the Ammodo conducting masterclass of the Concertgebouworkest led by Fabio Luisi.
Following a series of highly acclaimed appearances with orchestras such as Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra in the 2021/22 season, Anna Rakitina established herself firmly as one of the most exciting and sought-after conductors of the new generation. Rakitina remains assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) under its Music Director Andris Nelsons until summer 2023. She is only the second woman in the orchestra’s history to be awarded this position. With the Nutcracker suite, Rakitina makes her debut with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Apporoximate concert length: 1 hour (no intermission)
BONUS CONCERT DECEMBER THURSDAY 1:
We have the pleasure of inviting you to a chamber music recital after the concert on December Thursday 1. You are most welcome to stay, the performance will begin after a brief interval.
Tchaikovsky’s String Sextet in D Minor is a vibrant tribute to Florence, the composer’s favourite city.
The bonus concert is included in the ticket price for the concert on December 1 at 18:00.
Iskandar Komilov violin
Lachlan O’Donnell violin
Tony Bauer viola
Diana Crafoord viola
Magnus Lanning cello
Peter Volpert cello
Programme:
PJOTR TJAKJOVSKIJ: String sextet in D minor ”Souvenir de Florence”
Judging from the light touch, the normally anxious Piotr Tchaikovsky had pleasant memories from the time he spent in Florence. He composed the string sextet in D Minor – which he named “Souvenir de Florence”– after his return to St Petersburg. He wrote to his patron, Nadezhda von Meck, that he composed the energetic, danceable four movements with elements of folk music “with the greatest enthusiasm and with the least exertion”.
Approximate concert length: 45 min (no intermission)
Tickets
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